


Blue Blood Vampire Investigations

by Angelgod187



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Dom/sub, Emotions, Fluff and Smut, Kamski being Kamski, Multi, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, but he's my asshole, hank and connor fluff, hank defending connors honor, if blue blood is gore, no beta we die like men, rk900 is an asshole, will update tags as things progress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-05-28 17:28:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15054206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelgod187/pseuds/Angelgod187
Summary: A young new detective is added to the Detroit Police Departments growing android investigative unit, with an added android as a partner to balance it all out.Ashton is a new to the DPD but not to the android world. Partnered with the original team she'd fallen in love with over TV, Lt. Anderson and Connor, it feels like a dream come true. The only hick-up seems to be the new RK 900 unit assigned to her as her partner. Smarter, faster and less deviant then his older brother, its a show of good will Kamski holds over the shaky balance between the humans and androids.How will the team investigate the rising 'blue blood vampires' terrifying the newly freed androids of Detroit when they can't seem to get their androids to stop bickering.





	1. F:/E_Kamski/Android/rk/rk_900/prolog.exe

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> This is my first fic on here! (Why did I think posting this was a good idea? Lord knows...)
> 
> DBH has quite literally consumed me, and I needed to get this out of my system. I thought this up over three days and have a general sense of where i'm taking this. It probably wont be too long, but I've said that before and now am writing a four book epic sooooo..... 
> 
> Anyway, I don't code, so some of the more technical stuff is probably a little off but I tried my hardest, with no research, damn it. 
> 
> I do expect this to get quite explicit at some point, so please mind the tags as I update them (Still learning how to use them) but that will be a few chapters in.
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope you enjoy!

_System=on_

_Connecting to external drive…_

_Connected Updating…_

_Please hold_

_Updating emotionalpackage_0057.exe… please hold_

_Update complete…_

_Except update= Devient.exe_

_if yes= Proceed_

_if no= Connect to ED_

_YES_

_Updating… Please hold_

_Update complete._

“RK 900, run diagnostics on emotional package 57 in conjunction with the new Deviant file,” a male voice ordered a few feet in front of him.

“Running.”

_Diagnostic running for—_

RK 900 furrowed his brow as errors popped up for every system.

“There seems to be—“

“Yes. Let them play out,” the voice assured.

RK 900 tried to clear his HUB but where one was deleted, seven took its place. Sensations rippled from the crown of his head down to his toes, sensations he didn’t know he could feel. More errors appeared. The brush of cloth. _Error._ The cold air causing his skin to tighten over reinforced carbon fiber and aluminum alloy. _Error._

“I’m— uncomfortable,” he whispered, despite himself.

_Error. Error; Feelings registered in bio components #4782 and #4781_

_Running diagnostics… Error Error Error_

“Hmmm… Try this.”

All the errors disappeared while a soothing rhythm returned to his circuits. Nothing felt overwhelming and the textures on his skin disappeared to pressures once more. RK 900 opened his eyes slowly, taking in the room without the use of his analytical software. A man stood over a blond woman, a hand of his resting leisurely on her shoulder. She was clicking away at the glass table on a thin laptop, what looked to be the newest model. The man came around the table in a self-assured gate.

“Do you know who I am?” RK 900 ran a quick analyses of the human’s face.

“Elijah Kamski. Founder of CyberLife and my creator.”

Kamski ran a hand through his lose hair, a proud smile twisting his lips up. “Not quite the God I’d hoped to be. But my original code was utilized as the spine of your basic coding functions, which was surprising to see. How do you feel?”

_Running diagnostics…_

“No!” Kamski shouted suddenly. RK 900 ceased his test, looking down in concern.

“No?”

“How do you feel?” Kamski whispered a hairs breath away, poking the android between his synthetic pectorals.

RK 900 rolled his shoulders, flinching at the arm still keeping him off the ground dug into his lower back, keeping him in place. “Uncomfortable,” he repeated.

_Software instability detected…._

“Good,” Kamski walked back over to the older model android, still typing away at the laptop. He patted her shoulder, getting her undivided attention. “Drop him. Its time for graduation.”


	2. C:/J_Fowler/DPD/Detective_Unit/Homicide/Android_Unit/Little_A

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introductions

Ashton glanced both ways before crossing the busy street, ignoring the honking automated vehicles as they accounted for the sudden pedestrian in their way. Looking up at the large Detroit Police Department building made her smile wide. Years of hard work and dedication to the force culminated in being specially chosen for a new case. She’d moved north to be apart of a growing department currently being watched with a magnifying glass as the world held its breath.

Entering the bustling lobby she was pleasantly surprised to see a near half and half of human and androids walking about. The News anchors had made the city out to be a war zone still. She knew they had been exaggerating, but the camaraderie as they all tried to work towards a common goal was heart warmin—

Her shoulder collided with an unwavering object. She knew instinctively it had been an android she’d hit accidentally in ogling her new job. “I’m so sorry!” She was surprised to see the androids eyes closed. Her eyes naturally drifted down to his right lapel, RK 900 was printed along with his unique cereal number. She found it odd an android was still wearing the issued uniform by CyberLife. His face looked vaguely familiar—

He slowly opened gray-blue eyes, lowering down to meet her hazel ones.

“I was in your way,” he said in a rather dry tone, even if his voice was synthetic honey. “I should apologize—” His eyes shifted to match the blue flicker of the LED on his temple. “—Detective. I’m sorry for my hitting you.”

“No need,” she assured, taking a few steps back. He resumed his lack luster posture, closing his eyes.

Ashton bit her lip, looking around the room. No one seemed to be paying the RK 900 any mind.

“Do you need help?” She asked, even if the support desk was only ten feet behind her.

He opened his eyes again, pinning her back with them. “No, but thank you.” He bowed his head once in respect and closed his eyes.

He may be the weirdest android she’d met, but he was a handsome one.

Ashton tried not to let the droid get to her, turning back to one of the women behind the desk.

“Hi, how can I help you?” she asked with a perfect smile.

“I’m here to see unc— Captain Fowler? He should be expecting me.”

“Name?”

“Junior Detective Ashton Becard from the Austin city Police Department on loan to the Detroit Police detective unit.”

“Yes, he’s been expecting you,” she said. “The glass room in the middle. Can’t miss it,” she assured, open palm leading to the access gates on the right.

“Thank you,” Ashton said with a gracious smile.

She spotted him almost immediately. His ebony skin was as radiant as her fathers, his squat build and broad shoulders not so much. Paying little attention to the others, she snuck up behind him, hanging back as he talked to a man as old as he was. They were talking about their weekends.

“—ayed in that ratty band of yours while me and Connor just hung back doing nothing. Like you should do on the weekend.”

“Well—not nothing,” a familiar voice chimed in, heavy in innuendo. The older man seemed to be stuck making choking sounds as they laughed at his expense.

“Who’s that?” The voice asked, the droid from earlier looked around the captain to look at her.

“Your that—“

“Ashton!” He shouted, one of his large hands coming down hard on her right shoulder. The pain was distraction enough, flinching a little as his large arms opened up wide.

“Uncle Jeff,” she greeted, excepting his large bear hug. “How have you been?”

“Good, except when getting hassled by my own Lieutenant,” he said, throwing a thumb over his shoulder to the scraggly looking man dressed in what looked like a bowling shirt.

“Hello, Lieutenant Hank,” she said with a nervous smile. The man was damn near a legend now. Between the original Red Ice bust in his early career, to housing the deviant hunter turned deviant himself, Connor. He looked a little worse for wear in person. The media really had found his best pictures to broadcast.

“You’ll all be working together, actually,” the Captain said with pride, looking between the two humans.

“This is her? Where’d they get her from? The nursery lost and found?” The Lieutenant demanded.

Ashton was almost 27, young for a detective without a family member in the direct line of command to help her career along. She had tan skin and kept her hair longer then protocol allowed, braid dropping over her shoulder casually. She was wearing her best pantsuit, black with an inner rosy silk shirt to offset her skin color. She felt like she was going to be interviewed, even if Uncle Jeff promised the media had left weeks ago. She would rather be prepared then caught off guard.

“I’m more then qualified, if your worried about my credentials,” she said,

“God, she sounds like Connor!” Lieutenant Hank groaned.

The Connor unit, looking eerily similar to the one she left out in the lobby, jabbed the Lieutenant in the ribs with his elbow.

“Be nice, Hank,” he ordered.

Anderson grumbled, “attacked by my own android? What is the world coming too?”

“In my office,” Fowler ordered them, turning himself to take the lead.

 

****

 

Time: 10:58:57am

 

 

New Objective:

 

Find Captain Fowler

Meet new Partner

 

 

RK 900 whirled back to life, scanning the child that had been hanging off his arm. The mother was just off to the side, trying in vain to hide the black eye while she gave the officer her report.

“Sorry,” the child mumbled, pulling away from him.

“No worries,” he said pulling from his childinteractive_0001.exe file. “Have a nice day.”

He walked past the secretary desk straight into the bullpen. He mass analyzed all faces available to him. Captain Fowler was in his office with three others. One was the junior detective that he had run into earlier. With both objectives insight, RK 900 made straight to the office. He knocked lightly on the glass door.

“Thats the RK unit I talked to!” Ashton shouted unnecessarily, pointing directly as him.

“Holy shit,” Captain and Lieutenant cursed.

“Who is that?” The RK 800 unit looked pale, shock and fear playing through his code. RK 900’s HUB was filled with code errors from the older model. He had been deviant for some time.

The Captain opened his door. “RK 900?” he read off the code on his jacket.

“Yes, sir.” he said stiffly.

“Well, come in!” Ashton reached around, grabbing at his hands and pulling him into the room. “I was told I’d be receiving an android partner as well. I hadn’t thought it would be the one just standing in the lobby.”

RK 900 approached the dubbed ‘Connor’ unit. They had very similar facial features and hair. But where the Connor unit had a normal brown color for eyes, he had blue. He was also two and three quarters inches taller. The uniform he still chose to wear was ratty and torn at the edges. Against protocol for an android representing CyberLife.

_Disappointing,_ he mouthes fast. None of the humans had seen it, but Connor had. He took a step back as if RK 900 had physically struck him.

“Break it up!” the Lieutenant shouted, getting between them. “You ok?” he whispered to Connor.

Connor’s doe eyes were wide in shock, but he nodded. “Yes.”

Ashton pulled RK 900 aside at the same time. “What was that about?” she asked, getting in his face.

He scanned her, realizing she was upset with him. “I was assessing what expectations I was expected to uphold.”

She raised a single eyebrow. “And?”

“Unimpressive.”

Ashton deadpanned, slapping his chest with the back of her hand. “We have a lot to live up to here. You may think unimpressive but the world doesn’t and that’s who matters.”

RK 900’s LED lit up yellow for just a moment. “understood.”

“We done?” Captain Fowler demanded, one way glass lowering down to cover the exposed parts of the glass office as the screens came to life agains the far wall. “I’d like to explain whats going on here so I can send by new team to the newest site.”

“There was another incident?” Connor perked up.

“Just an hour ago.”

“Explain away,” Ashton said, taking a step closer to the projected photos taken thus far.

“Since the android uprising three months ago, the flow of Thirium has been harder to find. There were reports of androids combing through the junk yard left by the dismantled units they did manage to destroy before the President could stop them, but the Thirium has run dry.”

He changed to another set of pictures. The bodies of androids broken in half without a single drop of blue left behind.

“Is this with the filter?” Hank asked.

“It is,” Fowler said, flipping to another set and more torn bodies.

RK 900 was concerned for his partners eyes as she took another step closer. “Do we have a lead on who this might be?”

“We have a working theory that some of the newer model androids are killing the lower class to help repair and manage the population.”

“What is CyberLife expected to have another shipment in?” Connor asked.

“Kamski refused to disclose the information sighting the rise in crime as a security hazard. The only ones who have the clearance are the FBI and CyberLife till further notice. Drops are made randomly and with heavy security to local android charging centers and hospitals.”

“So… other androids are hunting one another for spare parts till CyberLife can pick itself back up?” Hank summarized.

Fowler gave a half shrug.

The stock value had been a massive blow to CyberLife and its share holders. The ones that did stay said they had always believed the androids were people and wanted to see a new leaf turned for the sake of humanity.

Kamski back in power left a bitter taste in Ashtons mouth, knowing that the money hungry man was keeping bio components in purposeful limited supply to continue to control the machines he’d made. Though it was never framed in the margins of profit. Never.

Fowler continued, “But we have a job as the ones at ground zero to keep this android against android crime from continuing.”

“We should get to the scene. The android responsible could still be around,” Connor said.

“There is a low probability, with time accounted for travel, that the suspect will still be at the scene,” RK 900 cut across, looking blandly at Connor. The older model had the audacity to blush blue.

“There is always a chance,” Ashton assured them, laying a placating hand on the 900 model. “We can take my car!” she said in a far more cherry voice, leading the men from the room.

RK 900 rammed into Connor’s shoulder, beating him out the door. Connor made an audible sound, distressed at the sudden attack.

_Software instability detected…._


	3. C:\mycomputer\documents\investigations\case_001

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First crime scene. 
> 
> The Gore tag applies I believe... If not, better to be warned. 
> 
> Enjoy!

 

Connor was thankful that Hank had insisted on driving separate cars.

“Its full antonymous!” the junior detective promised.

“Can’t trust that shit,” Hank said, turning to his own older model.

“What do you make of that 900 guy?” Hank asked in the car.

Connor stopped playing with his coin, but refused to meet his partners eyes. The shock to his systems seeing the other Connor unit left him frazzled. He hadn’t come back to himself till the Captain was half way through his explanation.

“It was a shock. I hadn’t known they were working on a newer model.”

“You did mention several times that you were a prototype,” Hank offered.

Connor paused, thinking his words over. “I didn’t think they would release the newer version like this.”

“Yeah, you can say that again,” Hank said with a snort, following the new detectives blindly while his own brain worked overtime. “I know Marcus had a hand in Ashton coming up from Texas to help with the rash of android murders. Fowler told me last week when I guilt tripped him to go to the bar.”

Connor gave his human a disapproving look, remembering the night well. “Marcus did mention in our last meeting that a human could be coming up to help. He hadn’t mentioned her credentials.”

“Fowler had mentioned that his brother was a coding genius for CyberLife. She’s grown up around them since she was little. Said she even wrote some code that’s being used in some of the child models.”

Connor nodded slowly. “She didn’t seem as concerned seeing me and RK 900 in the same room,” Connor mentioned, thinking over some of her actions with the new information. “She was also quick to be personable to him, touch especially.”

Hank grunted. “Not sure I should say this but, Kamski was prompted to add another android with Ashton. I thought he had turned down the request though— still trying to find the coding errors for deviancy in that creepy house of his.”

Connor chuckled.

They lapsed into a semi-comfortable silence.

Hank had never seen Connor so shaken before. That was a lie. When the android on the roof killed itself while Connor was connected—that was bad. Hank had spent the whole day trying to console the non-deviated android to the best of his lack luster human emotional projecting. Now that Connor had the ability to be more open and _feel,_ Hank thought they had all the messy highs and lows behind them. He was obviously wrong.

“They can’t replace you.” Hank said impulsively.

“Huh?”

“They—They can’t replace you,” Hank stumbled. “If you think that’s what they’re trying to do, they can’t.”

“I don’t think that’s whats happening here. Unless they are replacing you as well,” he said, a gleam in his eye.

“You little—!” Hank reached over, squeezing the android just above the knee. He’d been delighted the first time he’d found it, completely by accident. Kamski really was a smart man, even programming ticklishness. Connor squeaked up past his programed vocal range, a distorted sound of shock dropping back down into his normal range to giggle, trying lamely to remove Hanks hand.

“Stop, stop before you cause us to crash!”

Hank let go, glad to see Connor smiling again.

“Also, I hadn’t thought that biocomponents were running low. Are you ok?”

“CyberLife is contractually obligated to keep the department supplied with a months worth of backups if there were to ever be an emergency. I’ve been checking out the supplies I’ve need since the shortage,” Connor said in his mechanical way.

“Good. Wouldn’t want my partner suddenly shutting down.”

Connor gave him a loving smile, “not at all.”

 

*****

 

RK 900 and Ashton were the first detectives on the scene.

“Slow seems to be their prerogative,” RK 900 muttered to himself.

“I can hear you,” Ashton warned, give him a wicked side eye. “Now, do your job. I’ll talk with the witnesses,” she said turning to the small crowd the officers had corralled on the other side of the holographic yellow police tape. “Tell me when your done.”

RK 900 turned back to the dilapidated house. He took one massive scan, coming back with a few interesting items to look over. The roof had caved it, but it was recent. Damage during a skirmish? The front door was knocked nearly off its hinges but the doorframe had little damage. The victim knew who was at the door enough to open it. He took extensive readings of the few stairs leading up to the small front porch but there were no definitive footprints left behind with all of CSI coming and going. It irritated him to know the humans lack of sight might have covered crucial evidence.

_Software instability detected…_

He walked through the door and paused, swiftly reading the room. Things had been knocked over and flipped. The fight spilled into this room from the struggle at the door. A shattered lamp sprayed across the room, but no blue blood. The victim was desperate and unarmed. They ran into the following room to get away.

He walked into the only attached room, where the body was ripped into several different pieces. A heavy scan showed no Thirium prints.

RK 900 knelt over the body. The skin had been removed from the android, left in its white shell, unable to replace it in death. The Thirium pump had been removed with mechanical precision. The right arm was neatly severed from the body and laying eight and seven eighth inches above the head. The same clean sever for the right leg as well.

The head had been popped off, but the closer he looked, it looked like they had done it post mortem.

Why? To cover that the roof over head was laying around them in the dinning room with a equally severely damaged android? To throw the humans off their trail?

“—900 is already inside,” he could hear Ashton saying to the newly arriving detectives.

“Let’s see what this new guy can do!” Lieutenant Anderson said with a grunt. RK 900 turned to see Connor analyzing the doorframe.

Footprints left by the dust of the fallen roof caught RK 900 attention. They lead into the kitchen. A quick scan showed they had cleaned their equipment here, but still managed to leave no blue blood behind.

“I’ve already reconstructed the events,” he said, finding Connor analyzing the broken lamp.

Lieutenant Anderson and Conner both looked up to him in surprise.

“You’ve been here for exactly four minutes and seventeen seconds,” Connor prattled off.

RK 900 smirked. “Slow time.”

_Software instability detected…_

“You figured it out?” Ashton asked, walking up the steps.

“Of course.”

“Even the tire prints in the snow outside?” She asked with a knowing grin.

“I got them,” Connor said, a little to fast. “Its an old Ford model discontinued in 2023 with no autonomous features.”

RK 900 reached out, skin pealing back as he connected to Connor forcibly. Connor flinched, but handed just the necessary information over to the newer model. They released as if they’d burned one another.

“RK 900, you can’t go around doing that anymore!” Ashton insisted, forcing herself between the two, putting more distance. “That’s rude.”

“Its for the investigation, Detective. I always accomplish my mission.”

“You could be nice about it,” she muttered.

“Let’s hear it,” Lieutenant Anderson said, leaning against the railing, eyes glaring daggers.

“The victim knew the assailant. No forced entry,” He started, pointing to the intact latch. “They talked in there before the assailant became hostile. The victim tried to close the door but was unsuccessful. The struggle moved into the sitting room and then the dinning room,” he led them in. “Here, the victim was thrown through the roof and mutilated on the floor. All their blood was taken. They cleaned themselves off here in the kitchen before driving away. It was premeditated.”

“Connor?” Lieutenant Anderson asked by way of second opinion.

“I would need to look around a little longer,” he frowned through the admittance. “But the evidence does suggest the working theory.”

“Its like they’re vampires,” Ashton said, flipping through her notes. “Neighbors say the man had a child android with him as well.” She looked expectantly to RK 900, “did you see any evidence of one?”

Rk 900 frowned, scanning what he could see, “no.”

Lieutenant Anderson perked up at that. “There was no child found here.”

“A kidnapping as well?” RK 900 asked, pulling up the internal file to add charges.

“No,” Ashton said in shock, skin going pale. “They took the child back with them because the machines they were using to harvest the blue blood is only made for adult units.”

“Those crazy mother—“ Lieutenant Anderson swore.

Both RK units looked at each other in different forms of disgust. She hit the nail on the head.

“So we’re at a dead end here,” Lieutenant Anderson said, looking around. “They were clean about it.”

“Clean, yeah. We can try and back track the tire markings, see what sales have been made over the past few years?” Ashton prompted.

“It’s our only lead,” Connor offered.

RK 900 didn’t move when the others made to leave. He was troubled by the news that a child had been present. No where in his scanning had one shown up. The hallway was also clean, nothing standing out.

“Nines, you ok?” Ashton asked with a hand on his shoulder.

RK 900 raised a perfect eyebrow at the nick name.

“RK 900 is a mouth full. Your basically a sentient being at this point. No need to keep using your model identifier as a name,” she explained with a roll of her eyes.

“I was programmed with a name,” he said, LED flickering yellow for a moment.

It was her turn to raise an eyebrow, “Oh?”

“Clyde.”

Ashton snorted.

“Like Bonnie and Clyde?” Lieutenant Anderson demanded. “Fucking Kamski.”

“I do think there was suppose to be an element of irony in my name,” Clyde offered.

“Well, Clyde is much easier to say. Come on, let’s head back and see what the data bases say,” Ashton said, heading back out the door.

“Hey, wanna grab some lunch real quick?” Lieutenant Anderson prompted. “They never get hungry but I know you do.”

Ashton laughed, “its only eleven, sir.”

“Early lunch. On me. Have a friend that makes a mean cheese burger.”

“Well… if your offering,” she said with a teasing smile.

The blush over his cheeks was covered by a sudden wave of his hand. “Yeah yeah, its close to the office. Just tell that hunk of metal to follow me.”

Connor had given him a withering look when they turned to walk to their car, daring the older man to continue talking.

“Just trying to be nice!” She could hear Hank yelling as Conner tried to pinch him.

“There’s so much sodium!” Connor shouted back.

“We’ll meet you there!” Ashton called, waving over her head. Lieutenant Anderson gave a wave of acknowledgement before taking off.

“You ok, you look... confused?” Ashton asked Clyde, entering the licenses plate code for the car to follow.

“Nowhere in my scanning did a child appear,” he repeated. “I should have seen something...”

“The neighbors said they had only just moved in, and with the lack of funds with the current limbo androids are stuck in, it’s not surprising that there weren’t many personal items in the house yet.”

“It only explains so much…” Clyde felt something nag at him, shifting through the crime scene with his processor over and over again.

The car was underway, leading to the downtown area, obediently following Lieutenant Andersons car.

He hated that there was a glaringly obvious clue he couldn’t put his finger on. So distracted, he failed to see that Ashton too was glaring out the window on the missed clue.

_Software instability detected…._


	4. P:/Abecard/case_0001

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Missed items are found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Thank you guys for so much interest!
> 
> I've found i'm writing this at work now, so... you know the obsession is real. 
> 
> There's more depictions of broken androids, so if makes anyone uncomfortable you have been warned.

Ashton had long ago decided her perfectly placed makeup was a lost cause, digging the heel of her palm into her eyes. It was almost two in the morning and the late shift officers were out on patrol to keep the peace as both androids and humans filtered back into the city. President Warren had lifted the evacuation order three hours prior, as the senate came close to signing a new amendment into law. 

The quite bullpen only amplified her tired brain. She was used to near sleepless nights with her dad in their basement as they excitedly wrote code before they could forget it. Longer hours as a patrol officer for nearly five years till this dropped into her lap. All the new and change from the day had taken a higher toll on her then she was willing to admit.

“Your alpha brain waves suggest sleep is needed,” Clyde said suddenly.

She jumped, not having expected him to say anything. He was sitting next to her in much the same way Conner sat next to the Lieutenant. He’d been quite for hours, staring off into space blinking occasionally.

“Thank you, but I’m just waiting to hear back from the archive unit,” she reminded him. They’d managed to narrow down what manufactures still made the old model of tire, and the stores that purchased them was even smaller. The list of recent sales was doggy at best, but the twist had been the DPD themselves used the same models back in the day and auctioned the more beat up models every few years. She was waiting to hear if any of the last wave sold had gone to humans that owned androids.

Any more personal details they’d need would be cause for a warrant. A warrant they still didn’t have enough information to place before a judge to obtain.

Her desktop pinged with a new email. She quickly brought the machine back to life, searching through the email app to see exactly what she’d been waiting for. Her delight quickly turned bitter.

“Nothing,” she said it like a curse, quickly closing everything and shutting it down. “Fuck, that was the only lead we had. Now we have to search through the store receipts to find any new purchase that match the tread on the—“

“We never did access the victims stored memories,” He said suddenly.

Ashton froze, her muddled brain snapping back into full alert. “Fuck… No, we didn’t. Why didn’t you think of that earlier?”

Clyde paused, brow pinched in confusion, LED flickering between blue and yellow, “I don’t know.”

“Well, the humans didn’t think of it either,” she said in way of letting him off the hook.

Clyde perked back up. “I just received word that autopsy is done and the body has been moved into the archives downstairs. Would you like to take a look?”

“Lead the way.”

Clyde walked confidently towards their destination, having an internal map of the whole building. Ashton stuck back, looking around and trying to recite things to memory. She followed him downstairs, touching the LED strip running parallel down both walls.

The current case archives were state of the art. Reinforced fiberglass printed with the DPD’s logo and moniker etched into the door. The terminal stuck out like a sore thumb just beyond.

“They sure didn’t skimp any money on the renovations,” she said with a huffed laugh.

“Your badge should open it,” Clyde said, pointing to the words projected onto the right of the door. Ashton brushed her badge against it, stepping back as the door seamlessly opened. 

She walked up to the terminal, watching Clyde step closer to the wall across from them. She entered in her silly password she’s had for years. The wall pulled back, a body hanging on a hook and several items of interest in lit up cubbyholes appeared.

“Let me see if there is any physical damage to the hard drive first. Could you pull it down?” Ashton asked. He pulled the murdered android to chest level, the hook still anchored it to the wall. She approached slowly, the downed android eerie. She clicked the three separate release clasps over its cranium, the plastic popping back obediently. The main storage units were always stored here, more room and a less likely place to damage it, just like nature had intended.

“No obvious signs of tampering,” she mumbled to herself. “Go ahead.”

Clyde’s skin pulled back, the tip of his Index finger swinging up on a hinge, a USB popping out. He connected to the memory port specially built in androids for instant access. His eyes glazed over for just a few seconds before he minutely shook his head, pulling his hand back.

“I know you’re an advanced unit, but nothing can read several terabytes that quickly. What’s up?”

“The memory and hard drive units have been wiped clean.”

Ashton frowned, “there’s always some information left behind.”

Clyde hummed, checking over what little he did grab. “Just some base code.”

“Fuck. What don’t these androids think of?” She walked around, noticing several numbers blinking on the terminal. She clicked the flashing number two, watching as the empty right panel was removed and six more mutilated bodies came forward.

“All the same parts were removed,” she muttered to herself, looking between each one. “Right arm and leg for full Thirium extraction.”

“The head removal and child abduction were new,” Clyde said, joining her at her side. He mass scanned the bodies but each had the same feedback.

“Each unit different, all in different places, chassis and non Thirium parts left alone...” she tugged on the closest ones intact left arm, opening the forearm metal plate. Indeed no other parts were missing. “They only want the blood. If the Androids were desperate for parts, wouldn’t they’d take and harvest the whole body?”

“The dubbed ‘vampire’ seems appropriate,” Clyde said, pulling two more of the androids down to check.

“It was a joke! I didn’t think the media would come up with something so close!” Ashton defended.

“Their memory and hard drives are also erased,” he confirmed.

She rubbed at her eyes with a yawn.

Clyde pushed all the androids back into place. “Your no use to me in the state your brain is in. You should go home and get some sleep.”

“Yeah... I think your right.” She mumbled through another yawn. “Let’s lock this all down.”

Clyde moved around cleaning up, Ashton waiting patiently for him at the terminal. She closed the moving wall, making sure the lock was in place. Clyde left first, starting up the stairs as she waited in paranoia for the door to lock behind her.

She gathered her things slowly, seeing Clyde take off towards the LED lit wall charger that had yet to be decommissioned.

“What are you doing?” She demanded when he got comfortable.

“Ready to go into stasis for the night? You know that.”

Ashton knew he had her full detailed history with the first scan he’d done. “No way. You’ll creep people out if they find you here in the morning. Don’t you have an apartment at CyberLife?”

“Kamski made it clear I should fully integrate and that CyberLife held no responsibility for me once I was accepted into this unit,” he said mechanically.

Ashton pinched the bridge of her nose. “Shit. I could have been looking for a place for you if I’d known,” she bit her lip, not liking the turn her mind was taking. “Fuck, ok. Come on. You’ll stay with me till you can find a place.”

Clyde frowned. “I’m not sure that’s appropriate.”

“We need to fully integrate both you and Connor into the force. Connor has a head start by several months so it means your my responsibility. If they come walking in seeing you charging, it’ll be a harsh reminder.”

“I can’t change the parameters of what my systems require,” the android deadpanned.

“No one is saying you can, or should.” Ashton let out a frustrated huff. “But humans are stupid little creatures who hate change and we are in the thick of it now. Keeping your charging ports and memory banks hidden away will allow for a more seamless integration. Agreed?”

He couldn’t fault her logic. “And you have all these things?” Clyde pressed.

“I always carry a set,” she admitted, fiddling with her keys. “Habit.”

Clyde settled back into place with an arrogant set to his shoulders. “I’m a unique model, I’m not sure your standard sets would be compatible.”

Ashton snorted, “don’t be so full of yourself.” She passed him, patting his shoulder. “Come now my lovely bucket of bolts.”

Clyde followed after a moment, skeptical of her abilities.

“Home,” she told the car when he opened the passenger door. She relaxed when the correct coordinates were pulled up, sitting back and closing her eyes as the car pulled out of the parking space.

While the car drove the salted roads, Clyde had time to think. The personal connection between Connor and Lieutenant Anderson made him jealous. He was programed with the same integration software as the older unit, but felt as if he’d made very little progress with his own partner.

_Software instability detected…_

“Would you mind if I asked you a personal question, detective?” Clyde asked once they were on the highway.

“What could you need to ask that the top of the line scanning technology and data base hasn’t told you?” she said without opening her eyes.

He pulled from the top question lingering in the back of his processor. “It says in your file you were adopted as a baby,” he started. She nodded, hooded brown eyed looking up at him. “Captain Fowler’s brother has a marriage license to another man.”

“Yup. Fantastic fathers.” She muttered.

“Did not having a mother around negativity affect you?”

“If you weren’t an android, and I knew you weren’t asking out of true curiosity, I’d throw you out,” she said with a frown, pinning him down with a glare. It took her a moment to collect her thoughts. Clyde waited patiently.

_Software instability detected…_

“I met my biological parents just after I graduated high school. The adoption had been closed, so finding them was like pulling teeth. The private investigator we hired to track them down was the reason I became a cop—“ She looked back out through the windshield, eyes distant. “—We set up a meeting and...” Clyde could see the lingering pain as she recalled her memories for him. His hand fisted in his lap, angry to know there was pain there.

“My biological dad also works for CyberLife, in the pleasure bot department. My dad mentioned once that those who work for with the sex droids were a little screwy in the head.” She looked down at her hands, fiddling with one of her nails. “He asked some very inappropriate questions with our blood relation. It’s like being related made him— excited?” She shook her head. “I dogged a lot of his questions once I realized what was happening. We didn’t talk much.”

“My mother— she was so high on Red Ice she could barely talk. For about two minutes near the end, this clarity came over her. She explained she never used while pregnant, afraid I’d turn out worse then her. Told me why she gave me up and that it was one of the hardest things she’s ever done... said she was proud I graduated and was looking towards the future.

“You have this image in your head of who your actual parents are and mine was very wrong. My fathers and I agreed that contact should be truly severed. I haven’t talked to them since.

“So no. I don’t think not having a mother figure in my life effected me in anyway. Both my fathers loved me unconditionally and... I mean, I was wanted. I wasn’t a mistake or anything. Patrick worked hard on the androids he loved and Tom stayed at home to do the house work and be there for me at school and the PTA, field trips, bruises and scratches, all of it. All I ever wanted was their time and affection and I got both in droves.”

Clyde’s LED was circling yellow, watching each of her emotions play out over her face.

_Software instability detected…_

“Thank you,” he said, sitting back in his seat. “I understand you spent a lot of time with the father that worked for CyberLife?”

“Patrick had this room specially built into the house, before they adopted me. It was all metal and had an old bank vault door, as the door,” she smiled fondly. “I had this enamored child fascination with it. They hid it behind the staircase but once I saw it, I was hooked. They were terrified I’d be crushed or pull a wire and erase something, all number of horrible things new parents can think of. I was strictly forbidden from going anywhere near the door but that only made me want it more.”

Clyde actually smiled, imaging what little Ashton would do in a room full of wires and blue liquid.

“Oh yeah, think that’s funny? Well, one day... I must have been seven or eight? Patrick was down in his room and Tom was cleaning up the kitchen from lunch. I snuck away and managed to pry the door open. The stairway down was creepy but I had to know, like a magnet was pulling me down. Patric was glaring at his screen and there were two Alpha level androids hanging with their skin activated. I remember thinking ‘why are people hanging in the air?’ One turned to look at me and I screamed.” She chuckled to herself. Clyde took a picture, storing away how her lips pulled up, crinkling her nose and the corner of her eyes.

_Software instability detected…_

“My father ruined his keyboard with the coffee he spilled. He was SO angry, but looking back I think it was just the adrenaline high. I was spanked and grounded to my room for the rest of the day.”

“You went later,” Clyde said. It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah. I know when they’re going to bed and asleep. I snuck downstairs again and into the room. I was still startled when they turned to look at me, but they were friendly and... child me would have said they’d pasted the Turing test. We talked for hours and hours. Thank god they were house cleaning units, made to be friendly to kids. I accidentally fell asleep down there after a few hours.

“Tom told me later that they came in to apologize the next morning but I was gone. They had searched the whole house in a panic. They thought they’d pushed me to far and I’d run away. They called the police and started a search to find me, the whole nine yards. Patrick left his phone down in the Android room so, naturally he found me when he went to grab it. He clung to me as I was waking up, in tears thinking he’d lost me. I was so confused.” she laughed to herself.

“Thank you for sharing,” Clyde said with a genuine smile.

_Software instability detected…_

They arrived shortly after to a tall apartment building. Clyde followed his partner closely, noticing some of the looks the few humans still awake gave them.

She managed to make it through her apartments doorway before collapsing on her couch.

“Is there any place you’d prefer me?” Clyde asked in the dark room.

“Doesn’t matter,” she said, waving a hand in the air weakly. “Make yourself at home. All the systems you need are in my office.”

Clyde waited for her to fall into stage three sleep before moving around the space. The living room was large, two doors leading off into separate rooms on opposite sides of the space. The kitchen was to his immediate right, just as large.

He tried the door closest to the kitchen, opening it as softly as possible. It was her bedroom. Bed in the middle with a few personal item, framed pictures and trinkets littered about. He didn’t want to intrude in her personal space, falling back to the living room and the other door across the way.

It was the office. He turned the light on, scanning the room. Schematics of androids were tacked up on the walls and piled on the L shaped desk lining the main wall. She had a new PC build under her desk with three curved edgeless LED screens on top. A few dirty coffee mugs were littered around with a fork and plate on-top of more paper.

He moved a few of the sheets around, reading the models and little scribbles in the margins. It looked like there was a sheet for at least some component of every known android. He filed the knowledge away for later. The charging port and memory bank he found in the corner of the room were brand new, the bank still in its large box.

Clyde busied himself setting everything up. She even had a electric plug converter in one of her filing cabinets necessary for his higher battery capacity. He check his internal clock 3:23 it read. Without wasting anymore time, he plugged himself in before closing his eyes and shutting himself down to low power mode.

 

****

 

“Detective,” Clyde called from overhead.

Ashton shot her head up from the pool of drool. She didn’t bother to open her eyes. “Huh?”

“We got a high priority alert from Captain Fowler. Another three bodies were found without their blood last night. We are being called in.”

“Shit,” she took a couple deep breaths, pushing herself up by her arms. “Give me ten.”

Relived, brushed, and clothed she grabbed her compact makeup bag and keys, Clyde on her heels.

“Any details?” she asked while getting the car started to heat the cold air.

“The leader of the deviants will be waiting for us,” he said in a tone she didn’t like.

“Clyde, you aren’t just a machine. Let this deviant business go,” she chided.

Clyde said nothing, trying to keep his deviant hunter code in check. It was like a constant hum now, the errors and warnings when the deviants were around. He’d have to ask Kamski to deactivate it, open up some of his RAM to more important things.

Ashton was none the wiser to the android watching her in fascination as she expertly applied each stroke of her makeup. Clyde could keep up, watching YouTube tutorials on six times speed, but she didn’t need all that. Her hands gracefully applied each layer, especially around her eyes.

And boy, was she glad she had the forethought to apply her second face. The front of the building was teaming with camera’s and media. The scene from shows did little for their crazed eyes and blood lust.

She whistled to herself. “Getting through that is gonna be a pain.” Ashton looked Clyde over, knowing how the media might react to him. “Keep your face trained down and don’t respond to any of their questions, got it?”

Clyde’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Excuse me?”

“You look like Connor at first glance. I’m sure they don’t know you were even issued to the DPD to start with. They will hound you for answers. So, keep your head down and follow me.”

Clyde gave the crowd a skeptical glance but nodded slowly. “Sure.”

Ashton was tempted to throw her jacked over his head for good measure, but the newer models need their eyes for balance, making room for more advanced biocomponents to be placed in the cranial cavity. 

“Here,” she said, holding out her hand. Clyde didn’t hesitate in taking it. “Don’t step on the back of my shoes,” she warned, leading the way. “They were expensive.”

The media was mobbing on the overwhelmed officer who’d been sent out to deal with them.

“What have the investigators found from the bodies?!”

“Is there any official statement to be released?!”

“Should humans be worried their blood will be harvested next?!”

“What should androids do while these killers are on the lose?!”

Ashton got half way up the stairs before a flash from a camera blinded her.

“Detective, are you aware of the blue blood vampire case?!” the man shouted from behind his camera, taking another blinding photo.

“No comment,” She said, blinking rapidly as she tried again to ascend.

“Do you know if its human or android perpetrators?!” A woman yelled from behind.

Ashton tugged on Clydes hand, trying to force him up with her at a faster pace. He stumbled but got his feet under him, following closely as their window to get through the doors was closing.

“Any word on the new android murders over the night?!”

“Is the canceled evacuation order too soon?!”

“Connor, any word from Markus on the state the androids are currently in?!” One reporter shouted out, recognizing Clyde.

Ashton pulled at his hand, shoving him in front of her and through the doors.

“Fucking vultures,” she said, walking around the stunned android. “Come on Clyde.”

Markus was indeed waiting for them down in the mostly empty bullpen. Connor was talking with him, the humans standing off to the side looking over photos.

“Sorry we’re late,” Ashton said, placing her things down on her chair before approaching the group.

“Ah, you must be Miss Becard,” Markus said with a friendly smile. His bi-colored eyes was always surprising to see, the story harder to hear.

“Hello, its nice to finally meet the android that fast tracked my career,” she said, taking his hand.

Those around froze, looking at her in shock. Markus’ eyes lit up, head tilting back to laugh. “A long lasting career, we hope,” he said, clasping a warm hand on her upper arm. “And who’s this?”

“RK 900,” Clyde formally introduced himself, stiffing unnaturally.

“Clyde,” Ashton corrected. “Kamski let him go so he could be my partner.”

Markus looked his fellow android up and down, taking it all in. “You were the one that would have replaced Connor if he was successful in killing me.”

“Yes.”

“We need your help, as your people, to find the ones responsible for the murders,” Markus said, looking Clyde in the eyes. “Can you do that.”

“I never fail at my missions,” Clyde said, looking over the others head like a soldier.

“Can _you_ do it, Clyde?”

“Yes.”

Markus seemed satisfied, turning his back on his fellow RK unit. “With the rise of blue blood crime, I’ve heavily fortified New Jericho’s shipments and supplies but we’ve yet to see a try on them.”

“When did you get a shipment?” Captain Fowler demanded.

Markus looked at them all in shock, “we—we have been getting supply shipments since day two. CyberLife has been forthcoming with many of the biocomponents and Thirium we’ve needed to help our wounded and maintain stasis since the battle in Hart square.”

“That’s news to me!” The Captain shouted. “What the hell were they thinking not letting us know?!”

“Keeping the shipments on a need to know has kept it safe,” Connor summarized. “Just like Kamski promised.”

“That is what it would seem like,” Markus nodded. “Is there any update? The news has spread like fire and my people have become increasing nervous of traveling outside of New Jericho’s borders.”

“Nothing yet,” Hank said, crossing his arms. “The only real update is that they kidnapped a child.”

Markus was again shocked. “A human child?”

“No,” Ashton cut in. “A child android. Probably one of the YK units.”

“They’ve never gone to such lengths before,” Markus thought aloud.

“No. We think its because the suction pumps their using during the extract process for the adults is to large for the child. They took her back to—do it properly,” Ashton ended with a bitter taste in her mouth.

Markus tapped the edge of his chin with a thoughtful finger. “What else?”

“We found last night that they are also wiping out the hard drives and short term memories of the androids. Any information stored of their faces is lost,” Ashton said.

“That’s really all we have. We need to go investigate the new scenes,” Hank said, gathering his coat and keys.

“You need to get back to New Jericho before the reporters storm the building,” Connor said with a smile.

“I’ll head out the back way,” Markus said, patting the older unit on the shoulder before taking his leave.

“We’ll follow you,” Hank grunted, handing her the thin outdated manila folder with the basic information.

“Sounds good.”


	5. P:/Abecard/case_0037

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Escalation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of a lull and fluff before things start to pick up
> 
> Enjoy!

“Its escalating,” she muttered under her breath, looking over the pictures. Since Tuesday, thirty new androids had been found blood less. Each scene was almost the exact same and with so little in the way of evidence, Ashton was starting to pull her hair out. Even the stupid tire tracks had come up short. With the mass auctioning of the old van models, there were to many still registered to narrow down a guilty party effectively. 

The media was a constant outside the station now. If their ridiculous cover of the ‘blue blood vampire’ wasn’t outlandish enough, they’d been quick to pick up the small differences between Connor and Clyde. Far fetched stories of brotherhood and deep partnership fluff pieces circling by the hour when in reality Clyde was purposefully shoving Connor down in every way. Ashton had started splitting the crime scenes on purpose just so Connor could do what he was programed to love. Hank had noticed but said nothing.

It was now late Friday and the weekend was a looming monster. A planed celebration was suppose to take place all day Saturday for their new found personhood and freedoms with the pass of the new amendment. The celebration was expected to number in the thousands and her uncle was busy coordinating the DPD. She didn’t even get to enjoy her weekend, being called in for backup.

She focused back down at the CSI and postmortem reports, knowing nothing new would be there.

“I don’t understand. Markus said New Jericho had another shipment of supplies. This shouldn’t be happening.”

“You think its how we’re coming at it?” Hank said, moving a few of the pictures around. “The motive is wrong?”

Ashton looked at him, narrowing her eyes. “Do you have a new theory? I’m all ears at this point.”

“Me and Connor were talking about it this mornin’,” he said, scratching at his cheek. “What if it isn’t androids?”

Ashton glared down at the desk, “humans then? What would they need with so much Thirium?” she demanded.

Hank raised an eyebrow, testing to see if she was messing with him. She shook her head, truly dumbfounded.

“Red Ice, kid.”

Ashton’s eyes slowly grew, everything clicking into place. “Holy shit! And since the public isn’t aware of the shipments, those on the streets wouldn’t know either. So the only place to find the blue blood they need is in those androids brave enough to walk around the streets,” she summarized.

Hank nodded, “we should tell Markus. The more androids stick together, the safer they’ll be.”

“I can leave tonight while you two go to the bar,” Connor offered, even if the minute furrow of his brow showed his irritation that Ashton was actively helping his partner with his drinking problem. “I had been planning to go to congratulate Markus on the amendment.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said with a knowing smile. “What about you Clyde? Plan to help me with the celebration?”

Clyde froze, causing them all to stare. “Mister Kamski has recalled me for a software update. I will be spending the weekend with him.”

“Holy shit, thought they let you go…?”

“What update?” Ashton talked over Hank.

“The deviant software I was hard programed with is now obsolete. The constant warnings and errors are filling up my RAM, making me less efficient. The errors have found their way back to Kamski and he has a patch.”

“Oh, well… When you going to tell me?” She said, a little hurt that he hadn’t thought to tell her. A deeper part knew of software bugs no testing could account for and the horrible results they could inflict. She hoped that Kamski hadn’t slipped since his early retirement.

Clyde’s eyes opened a fraction wider, “I was hoping to be in and out before you noticed.”

“They always notice,” Connor assured him. “I tried once to leave while Hank was asleep. I suddenly was bombarded by text and calls when I arrived just ten minutes later then planed.”

“Maybe you should be prompt,” Clyde said, rolling his eyes.

“Clyde, could you stop for just a minute with that shit?” Ashton asked, tired of the underhanded comments and looks. “Just because he’s an older model doesn’t mean he isn’t any less efficient.”

“Being an older model means he’s exactly that, less efficient.”

Ashton waved him off, looking to Connor with her best dismissal tone, “ignore everything he says. He’s just jealous you get this hunk of a man.”

The android tilled his head back in laughter as his human partner stuttered out an excuse. Clyde flushed an interesting shade of blue as she laughed at his expense.

“Wait,” her smile dying on her lips. “You won’t be there to help me Saturday night?”

Clyde felt he needed to stop the free fall of her lip, the crest fall in her eyes. “If the updates ends early, I will come back to the apartment. If its shorter then that, I’ll be at your side to mitigate the crowd.”

“Be at your side,” Hank snorted.

Ashton slapped him with the back of her hand, trying to hide the blush the innuendo in his voice caused. Clyde had increasingly been staring at her. It had felt at first as if he was getting used to her, software learning her facial movements and mannerisms. Now, not so much. He had started returning her gentle pats, even going as far as helping her with a stray hair this morning. The shiver it had sent down her spine, she chose to ignore.

“Well, we aren’t going to get anywhere today. Hopefully putting the word out means everyone will keep an eye out for any funny business,” Hank said, getting to his feet. “You gonna be alright?” He asked Connor, hand resting naturally on the androids hip.

“Yeah. Markus can take care of me,” Connor said in good humor, resting a lingering hand on his partners forearm. “Don’t worry. I’ll take one of the marked vehicles. Go straight there and back.”

Hank nodded, pulling away. “Good, good. Why not drive Clyde down to Kamski’s? Save him on the fair,” he said, grabbing for his heavier jacket.

Two androids and a human looked at him as if he’d grown a second head, “what? They need to learn to get along!”

Both RK units looked at one another, not quite glaring.

“That’s a good idea,” Ashton said, to the complete shock of the RK 900 unit. “Some time for the brothers to work out their wrinkles.”

Connor looked at the newer version of himself skeptically, “I don’t mind.”

Clyde made a non comital sound, watching Ashton like a hawk. Hank and Connor looked at one another knowingly.

“Good,” Hank said. “I’ll go warm up the car.”

“I’ll go check out a car,” Connor agreed. The partners walked off in different directions

Ashton went to grab her purse, Clyde grabbed her arm without processing the action.

“Why are you trying to force this relationship?” Clyde demanded.

Ashton didn’t react at all, face blank. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” she said, ripping her arm from his hold. The action would leave a bruise. He hated himself.

_Software instability detected…_

“You _will_ behave yourself. You _will_ answer any questions he has. And you _will_ come back in one piece from that mad man. Those are your mission parameters and I expect nothing short of perfection, Nines. Do I make myself clear?”

Clyde had double vision for a second. A familiar dark skinned woman smiling proudly up at him overlaid to the reality that was Ashton. He blinked, clearing his eyes.

“Yes,” he said.

“Good. Now go find Connor and for the love of all that’s holy, be fucking nice,” she demanded, tugging his CyberLife issued jack back into place.

Clyde gave her a half crooked smile, setting a hand naturally on the base of her neck and shoulder, thumb finding her cheek. “I will.”

She looked up at him in shock and for one horrible moment, Clyde was sure his personal touch code had taken it a step to far. She relaxed, head leaning into his touch. “Be safe. See you soon,” she bid, leaving his hold to follow the lieutenant.

 

*****

 

“Wait, wait, wait,” Ashton demanded, taking the tequila shot she’d ordered for them both back. “Your actually having physical relations with Connor?!” She demanded, bitting into her lime.

“Why you gotta say it like that?” Hank shot back, passing her his shot. “But yeah.”

“Did they even equip him with the hardware?” she snorted into the shot glass. “Hardware.”

“Fuck yeah they did. Kamski’s boys think of everything. Even has a mole right here,” he pointed to just under his belt line on the rise of his hip.

“Moles were such a contested topic for months at CyberLife,” Ashton recalled, bitting into the second lime. “I remember my fathers talking about stupid details like that. ‘No, small details count’ ‘Its a waste of money!’” she mocked.

Hank grunted, waving for his neat whiskey refill. “We haven’t been at it long. I—I wasn’t sure if I was projecting my feelings onto him at first. Connor had to almost drag me to bed to prove he meant every word and even then I felt like I was seventeen again. Asked to many damn times.”

“Better to ask then realize you fucked up,” she offered, waving the bartender over. “One sex on the beach please?”

He eyed her lazily. “One sex on the beach,” he affirmed, pulling a glass from under the bar with practiced ease.

“What about you and Nines?”

Ashton took a deep breath, schooling her features the best she could with how drunk she was. “What about it?”

“He’s been staying with you, hasn’t he? Can’t ignore the lingering looks. Connor even mentioned it on the ride home last night, only reason I knew to look for it today.”

Ashton winked to the bartender, excepting the drink with a coy grin. “I had the parts he needed so he didn’t have to stay at the station and use what was provided there. Uncle Jeff said in my transfer orders half my being here was to better integrate androids into the force and I knew—“

“Fuck that shit,” Hank cut her off. “You sound just like them, all mechanical and official.”

Ashton smiled around her clear straw, “oh yeah? Raised around protocols and prototypes… I guess you just pick up on it.”

“How does it feel?” he asked, poking her arm. “I’ve noticed you hide your feelings behind regulation and work protocols. Easier to follow the book then feel, huh?”

Ashton frowned, his observation hitting a little to close to home. “Fuck you, I have feelings.”

“You don’t seem to where Nines is involved,” Hank said, asking for another round. “You can touch and prod but feelings and partnership open them up.”

“Its professional,” she said, flipping her lose hair over one shoulder to reveal her long neck. “I also find his status in the current climate fascinating.”

“How he doesn’t seem to have deviated?”

“Exactly. Kamski made sure to install the deviant hunter program as well, even though he could have removed it. I’ve seen some signs of deviation, but like the media reported on Connor, correct me if they’re wrong, he refused for a long time to accept the deviant code.”

Hank nodded, “he had a real hard time for the first few days.”

“Clyde is following in his older brothers shoes. I’ve tried a couple things to try and speed the process up, but the mention of the deviant hunter code still running through him earlier was the worst caseof the scenarios I’d dreamed of.”

“What do you mean?”

Ashton fell silent.

“Come on kid, can’t stop there.”

“The code name was Amanda for the deviant hunter protocol. Kamski had written a large portion of the code before he left and my father was the one to finish it. He couldn’t tell me much, but… there have been projects that have haunted him. Code he never thought he’d had to write. I think writing the code to counter his own short comings nearly broke him.”

Hank looked at her with a frown. “Short comings?”

Ashton bit her lip, debating.

“You’ve come this far.”

She looked around, only the bar tender noticing her searching gaze. “I’d rather not talk about the rest till we are in a more secure location.”

“Must be some deep shit.”

“Like you and Connor?” She rounded.

“Beautiful,” he complemented and called her out all at the same time.

She laughed. “How was ya’ll first date?”

Hank croaked, coughing as he swallowed wrong. “What?”

Ashton patted him on the back, “first date? Surly you’ve had one?”

Hank paled, looking down at the bar as if it would save him from the sudden turn of their conversation.

“You haven’t taken him out,” Ashton deadpanned.

“I didn’t even think about it!” Hank said, chugging the last of his drink.

“Lier.”

“Fuck you! We’ve been busy! Between work and—“

“Fucking?”

“You need to cut the shit,” Hank warned, leveling a glare her way. “This is personal shit and Connor isn’t even here to defend himself.”

“From the way Connor jokes and laughs about it, he’d be perfectly ok talking about this,” she said, finishing her drink.

Hank refused to respond, his cheeks an adorable tint of pink.

“What if you went out tomorrow?” she prompted.

“What?”

“Tomorrow. So many people will be out celebrating that a movie and dinner should be a walk in the park. No one from the precinct will be there to see you and the normal weekend rush should be more of a trickle.”

Hank sat back in his stool, thinking about it. “I don’t know… I’d have to ask Connor. He seemed excited to join in with crowd—“

“Just ask. And if you need any help with an appropriate outfit, let me know,” she said, elbowing him playfully. “If Uncle Jeff gives you any issues, I’ll cover.”

“Ugh, you guys are insufferable!” He shouted.

Ashton laughed, eyeing the bartender one more time.

“If your gonna take him home, better tell him now,” Hank said, shifting his weight to pull out his wallet.

Ashton thought about it, drowning in the copious amounts of alcohol she’d been subjecting herself with to try and keep up with Hank. Her feelings were mismatched and messy. “Fuck it,” she said, pulling out her own card.

They quickly paid, Ashton putting her number and a quick note down on her receipt.

“Should I call a cab?” Hank asked once they were outside.

The cold was sobering. “Not for me. My car is on its way. You, sir, need a cab,” she said, plucking his keys from his hand.

“Oh fuck off,” he said, trying his hardest to reach for them.

“As an officer of the law, I cannot in good — let a fellow officer drive drunk,” she said in her best official cop voice.

“Fine. I’ll find my own way back,” he said, pulling out his phone.

“Come off it, I’ll drive you home,” she offered.

“Don’t want to be a third wheel,” he said, looking over her shoulder. The bar tender was in the middle of reaching out to get her attention.

“I get off in fifteen?” He offered with a sexy smile.

“Get a cab,” she ordered Hank, throwing his keys at him before turning back to the bartender. “My car is on its way.”

His smile widened, jumping back into the bar to finish his shift.


	6. F:/E_Kamski/Android/rk/rk_900/Deviant.exe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little explicit here, descriptions more so then anything.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

 

_System=on_

 

_Connecting to internal drive…_

_Connected_

_Updating… Please hold_

_Removing Devient.exe… please hold_

_Downloading Love_BasicCM_001.exe…_

_Downloading Love_BasicCM_002.exe…_

_Updating NerveEnding_Prtcl_0382.exe…_

_Updating NerveEnding_Prtcl_4657.exe…_

_Update complete…_

_Update acceptance override= Yes…_

_Updating… Please hold_

_Update complete._

 

 

“RK 900, can you open your eyes for me?” Kamski called from behind that infuriatingly empty, ‘modern’ desk.

“Clyde,” he corrected, opening his eyes.

“I’m sorry?” Kamski frowned.

The return of cold, his skin puling together to raise the synthetic hairs on his arms, the tickle of his hair against his eyebrow. It was all overwhelming but no errors this time.

“Did he mention a name last night?” Kamski asked Chloe. She shook her head, watching the lines of code play over her laptop screen.

The human turned back, eyes searching. “Well, sorry. Clyde? How do you feel?”

The pad of his thumb ran over the tips of his fingers, alighting a neural network just under his skin. “I feel… Everything.”

“Good. Reading over the design schematics for newer models over the past ten years, I was delighted to see a sensory neural network integrated. The network was never connected to any systems that would allow androids to feel, but CyberLife took that data and honed it over time. You will be the first to test it.” Kamski waved to the blond woman. She nodded, typing in commands.

Clyde was gently lowered back down. He shivered involuntarily, the gray slate of the floor cold. The hook unlocking from his lower back hurt. The crawling of his skin covering his white exoskeleton was unnerving.

“I don’t know if I like this?” Clyde said, feeling the silk robe Kamski made him wear. “Could you reverse it?”

“I could. But I had to modify your processor and RAM units. You now have a second set of both, peripherally connected to your main systems. I’ve made sure you can’t interact with or change the sensitivity and input levels. It can never be turned off, unless the second set of components are fully removed, only... rerouted,” he said with a twisted grin.

Clyde frowned. “I would have liked to have been consulted on the hardware upgrades before hand.”

Kamski had the gall to laugh. “Probably should have asked you about the new bio components as well.”

Clyde felt a knot forming in his stomach, “what did you do to me?”

“I noticed last time that you weren’t outfitted with any... parts.” He waved to his lower pelvic region. “The older model had working genitalia added as a last minute push from the sex bot department by way of insisting undercover work could be a potential directive and hazing in gangs can occasionally mean stripping down.” He shrugged. “I’d be fascinated to know if he’s used it... he has all the mechanical parts required. Even the code to simulate pleasure.” 

Clyde shook his head, not wanted to hear about the Lieutenant and Conor’s love life potential. “Stop.”

“Well, now you have much the same he does,” Kamski said smugly, approaching slowly. “And there really is only one way to test the new hardware.”

Clyde physically recoiled, taking a few steps back. “No. Absolutely not.”

“Don’t worry, Chloe made sure everything was properly attached and working,” he said with a shrug.

Clyde could feel his breathing increase, checks flushing at the idea of her touching him.

“Are we done here?” He asked after checking his internal clock. Saturday, 11:21am. He had time to get back to her.

Kamski raised a single brow, “have somewhere to be? Someone to meet?”

“The celebration in downtown. Captain Fowler asked for us to work it.”

Kamski nodded, waving to the unfamiliar clothing bag resting against the door. “A... present,” he said. “Everyman should have a tailored suite.”

 

****

 

Ashton played with Marks fingers. He wasbig spoon, chin resting into the corner of her neck and shoulder, snoring lightly in her ear. His arm had slung over her a few minutes ago, pulling her closer.

She hadn’t planned to let him spend the night, even in her state of inebriation. Idle talk to better get to know one another led to his finding of her detective work.

It became obvious quickly he was a submissive, out of practice but more then willing to try one of his favorite scenes, power disparity in the form of law enforcement. Ashton was a swing herself, her dominant rising to the call.

Between the accurate miranda rights and the floor poor Mark came twice. Once more in actual handcuffs on the couch and twice more in bed. It always made her feel powerful to rip orgasms from men, to throw her sexual power in their face and control every aspect of pleasure.

The scene took hours to play itself out and she didn’t have he heart to wake him. Uncle Jeff had said the detectives didn’t need to be in till two, and it was only twelve thirty, she’d sit here and play on her holopad till he woke up. Her fingers touched the pad just as a distant jiggle of her doorknob caught her attention.

She reached for the bedside table, feeling the top of the drawer where her gun was hidden. The jiggle came again. Her heart rate sped up a little, moving Marks arm off her waists incase she needed to move. Thank god the bedroom door was still open, both too tired last night to close it. She aimed down the sights when the distinct _squuuuueeeeeaaaakkkk_ of the door opening shouted into the still morning air.

Ashton held her breath to steady her aim, a head of brown hair coming into view. Familiar blue eyes looked down the barrel in shock.

She sighed out in relief, leaning back in bed as Clyde made his way towards the bedroom.

“Where you seriously—?”

“Shh!” She jerked at Clyde’s loud voice.

“Oh,” he looked to the sleeping human man laying down next to his partner. He tried really hard not to glare. His LED flickered between blue and yellow. “I’ll wait out here,” he half whispered, trying to wake him up now.

Ashton started to untangle herself from Mark. He didn’t wake, thank god.

“What are you doing here?” Ashton demanded, wrapping a robe around her naked body. She froze, looking down, down, down.

“Thats a new suite,” she said, walking around him. “Where did you get it?”

“Kamski gifted it to me. Said every man—“

“Needs a fitted suit,” she finished. “Dad always talked about it. He has three,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “This quality is amazing. I wish he’d though to get a different color combination… wait…” she patted between his shoulder blades, taking the collar in her hands, a warning as she removed the whole jacket. She quickly found the tag she was looking for. “Armani?! They closed like three years ago!”

Clyde shrugged, trying to ignore the fact she had striped him down, however little it might be. She laid the white coat out carefully on the back of the couch.

“You made it out that you’d be out till late tomorrow— or late tonight,” she explained herself. The flush of her face and the continued use of her body blocking his way to the bedroom set him on edge.

“I said I’d come back here if I was done early,” Clyde reminded her, self-conscious. Watching every little flap of the robe, hoping to see more of her olive skin.

He couldn’t hold back his questions. “Why is that man here? He’s been arrested once for—“

“You fucking scanned my guest?!” She looked at him as if he’d cursed her fathers.

“It’s habit,” he muttered. She looked pointedly at his LED, a solid yellow now. If he ever dared to go near Kamski again, he’d ask for it to be removed.

“You know that’s a complete violation of privacy,” she hissed, getting closer. His hands itched to reach out, could feel the heat coming off her in waves. “It should really only be used on crime scenes.”

“It won’t happen again.”

“Holy shit, are you dating someone?”

Clyde glared the man down, the need to protect the apartment he’d been calling home and his partner overwhelming.

Ashton pulled back like she’s been slapped, turning to the other human, ready to explain herself.

The guy cut her off, “is he an Android?”

“He’s my partner on the force,” she said lamely, picking at her nails.

“He kinda looks like that one from tv,” he said, taking a few steps closer, trying to get a good look.

“Have fun last night?” Clyde demanded, stepping in front of Ashton protectively.

Mark raised to the bait, “hey, I had fun, more then you.”

Ashton’s warm hand on his chest stopped Clyde’s advances. “WHOA! Stop!” She ordered him.

“She picked me up man! I don’t have to take this shit,” Mark said, turning back towards the room. The room Clyde had only glanced into. The room he left as hers while he invaded every other of her spaces. Knowing she pursued the lowlife, that he had been able to get in, set something ugly lose in Clyde’s chest. He looked down at her. She refused to meet his gaze.

“If this is some weird kink, I can’t play along with this,” his mumbled voice came from the bedroom. “I’m out.”

“No Mark, wait!” She called, running in. Clyde just missed grabbing her hand, to force her to stay at his side. “It’s not, he’s just my partner with the detective unit,” he could hear her explain. The pain that laced through his chest nearly knocked his knees out from under him.

“He might be that for you, but the guy looks at you like you wrote his code,” her date said, cloth rustling. “You should probably talk to him about it.” He advised, walking straight to the door and leaving.

The silence lingered in the air, heavy and taxing.

Ashton walked out slowly, two of her long nails gone and working on the third. Clyde moved, grabbing her nervous hands in his. 

“I—“ her phone started ringing, cutting Clyde off.

The ease of her removal, emotionally and physically as she turned back into her room was a gash.

Clyde’s base code could recognize these emotions were apart of the new update, but he felt it. It was all too much. He couldn’t turn this off and the sudden overwhelming pain was confusing.

“Lieutenant?” She asked with a half smile. “Need that help?”

She paused to let him talk, her smile radiant as the mid afternoon sun shinned through her open window, bouncing off the white sheets and giving the room an ethereal glow.

“I’ll call my dads and see what they come up—-“ he cut her off, Clyde could almost hear him from here. “Worry not, they love playing dress up,” she assured. “I won’t, I won’t. I know. Ok. See you soon. Bye,” she hung up the phone only to make another call.

“Hi dad!” She held the phone away from her ear as,

“Why haven’t you called?!” Was shouted over the speaker.

“I’m sorry! The case has been taking up a lot of my time!” She flicked her eyes up to his for a moment before looking away again.

She got chewed out for a few minutes, biting her lip to try and hide the smile.

“Ok, ok. But my Lieutenant needs your gay fashion help. He’s got a hot date tonight and needs a good suite to wear.”


	7. J:/Computer/CaptureCard/Camera_One/Officer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get heated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things for sure get X-rated here, so... have fun!
> 
> Enjoy!

 

“We’re going to a theater and dinner. Why put me in this monkey suit?” Hank demanded. “It’s gonna be dark half the time!”

Ashton ran her hands over his suit jacket, smoothing out invisible wrinkles.

“Dressing up shows you care,” she said.

“And my god do you wanna impress,” Tom said from the holopad propped up against the tv.“Ashton sent me a picture and... you like them young!”

“Hey, he didn’t get to chose his age!” Hank argued.

They laughed at his expense.

“Hmmm,” Tom came through. “Ashton honey, can you pull his hair back for a moment?”

Ashton ignored the angry grumbling as she messily pulled the older mans hair back from his face. A few strands escaped, framing his face in a far more flattering way, coming up to a short pony tail.

“It makes you look more refined. Straighten it up and pat it down!” Tom announced happily.

“Do you have a comb?”

“Bathroom across the hall,” Hank said with a resigned sigh. “Hair ties too.”

Ashton darted down the hall, opening the door to see Connor there, messing with his perfect hair. He had been dressed for awhile. The suite he was wearing was a little older, but it was well fitted to his build. The white shirt and dark coat a classic combination. “Don’t you look nice,” she said with a smile.

He smiled back through the mirror, “thank you, detective.”

“Just Ashton, Connor. Please,” she worked around him, grabbing what she needed. “he’s almost done, I promise.”

“Show starts in forty minutes and the place is across town,” he warned her.

“I only need three.”

She closed the bedroom door behind her, hoping to surprise the android. Some cursing and pulled hair later, Hank pratically threw her off.

“Ok, ok, ok, I’m done!”

“Yes you are!” Tom said confidently.

“I’ll call you back daddy,” she said, exchanging quick goodbyes. She turned to Hank with a proud smile, admiring her long day of hard work. They'd spent almost two hours between buying a nice suit that nearly matched his physique and at in the tailors shop arguing over petty shit. The cut made him look thiner, and the ridiculous tie he refused to pass up at the shop was just perfect for his personality.

“Connor!” She called out, “he’s done!”

Sumo came bounding into the room at the call, like it was for him. "Well hello!" Ashton said, grabbing his attention so no slobber could ruin her day. "Who's a cutie?!"

“Sorry I tried to hold him back,” He said, opening the door slowly.

It warmed her heart to see Connor’s eyes widen, taking in his partners hair, trimmed beard, suit and shoes. He was at a lost for words, mouth working but processor overloaded. The steady blue of his LED was a good sign.

“Don’t gotta stare,” Hank grumbled to himself, taking in all of Connor’s magnificence as well.

“If I want to recite it to memory, I do,” Connor shot back, coming in to kiss Hank.

Ashton stayed quite, bitting her thumb nail to keep her emotions at bay. They were just so cute. Once they pulled back, she started moving, collecting her things. “Well, my work here is done,” she said, grinning ear to ear.

“Is Nines still not back?” Hank asked. “Or did he not want to come?”

Ashton was glad she was facing away from them, knowing the sudden change of her expression would have been a dead giveaway. “No, he’s still with Kamski,” she lied smoothly, heading down the hall towards the front door. She knew Connor could see her lying, but Hank couldn’t. He easily accepted the lie, locking the door behind them.

“Have a safe night, kid,” Hank bid. Connor just gave her a meaningful look. Fuck.

She waved them goodbye before starting up her car and heading back to the precinct. Uncle Jeff had been in the middle of a press meeting to discuss the rise of murders in the ‘blue blood vampire’ case when she’d first arrived. She’d gotten the time and and location for her and Clyde's crowd control shifts before heading back home.

She’d left him home purposefully to download the half a petabyte worth of code he had stored. His attitude this morning was near hostile, she’d never seen him act like that, even towards Connor. What ever code Kamski had downloaded needed to be corrected and she would be damned if she couldn’t.

He was exactly where she left him in her office, in her grey ergonomic chair connected to her powerful tower. Even with all the new bells and whistles, it would take hours to download so much information into a system unequipped to handle the massive influx of information. He was sitting at ninety seven percent, thank god.

She knelt down next to him, starting to click through what had already been downloaded. She could see the basic folders and code that for sure hadn’t been touched. His breathing and Thirium regulation code was also fine, she bypassed that.

“Find anything?” he asked when it was complete. She was frowning in concentration.

“No. What I have found is prototype code that really only applies to you, but doesn’t explain your sensitivity.” she kept scrolling, folder after folder line of code after line of code.

Clyde started to clock out when she stiffened a little. He didn’t say anything, letting her quickly move back and forth between three different pages of code reading software.

“Holy shit,” she whispered. “He gave you-- a sense of touch?!”

“I do _feel,_ ” he said, unable to stop himself from running a lose strand of her hair through his fingers. Soft individual hairs rolled between his thumb and forefinger.

“And—“ She glanced up into his baby blues before glancing down to his lap. She blushed, quickly looking away. “He installed new hardware.”

“He did mention something about that,” Clyde said.

“Does the sensitivity feel to high?” She whispered, watching him play with the strand.

“No. The physical sensations feel right. I feel alive,” he admitted, taking another strand. “Its… its the emotions. They are so strong…”

“Hmmm,” she turned back to her screens, looking for what she needed.

“It says here your emotional balance is at eighty percent. At least he had the good sense not to set it to a hundred and see what happened,” she said sarcastically.

“I’d have killed Mark,” Clyde said in all seriousness.

“I know,” she whispered, starting to type down some code of her own. “I’m adding some data base connections that will be pulling from situational awareness code you already have. This should better stabilize the swings you were talking about.”

Ashton was trying to make sure he was ok with any changes and potential mistakes in doing so. He didn’t have to think twice. He trusted her. “Ok.”

She typed away diligently for almost forty five minutes before saving everything. “Integration of the code would take hours and we don’t have the time to test it to verify it even works. We have to go,” she said, looking at the clock.

“We do,” he agreed. He helped her up, the thrill of touching her racing down his arm.

They were quite while collecting their things and on the way down to the car. Clyde touched every little thing as he passed it, fascinated by the textures.

“If anything becomes overwhelming tonight, let me know. The crowds are always a lot to take in, even for us humans, so don’t let yourself get caught up in it. We need to stay sharp and look for anyone trying to pick androids off.”

“Do you think this update has affected me negatively?” It has his chest flutter, the only other expert on his metal biology giving him such a serious warnings.

Ashton bit her lip, finally looking at him. “You seemed so... angry earlier. I’m worried something might separate us and— someone triggers that behavior. I’ll test the code tonight and we can download it first thing tomorrow.”

Clyde nodded, relaxing his hold on the seat he had been rubbing a hole into.

 

****

 

Hank had to admit, he’d dress up in what ever suit the young detective and her father put him in to see Connor this hot and bothered anytime of the week. They hadn’t lasted long in the theater.

Hank had noticed the quiet flipping of the quarter over Connors fingers during the movie that turned to crossing his legs and clearing his throat unnecessarily every few minutes.

He hadn’t known what movie they were seeing but he was really enjoying it, even with all the distractions. The hand innocently placed at the beginning of the movie trailing from his mid thigh, higher and higher, was not easily ignored.

“You ok?” Hank asked his partner, resting a hand over his to stop the progress. He had enough decency to not try anything in public, even if the theater was mostly empty.

“I need you,” was his breathy moan. Every nerve Hank was born with came alive at once. He had years of experience to school his emotions into light shock, brows raising.

“Now?”

“That suit looks really good on you,” Connor said, slipping his hand out from under the humans and placing it on his chest, playing with the ridiculous tie. “It would also look better on the floor.”

“We can skip dinner?” Hank offered, feeling himself twitch at the idea Connor was painting.

“Yes, please,” Connor started attacking his neck.

“Hey hey, now!” Hank protested.

“Car. Now.”

And that’s where Hank found himself. Like he was sixteen again borrowing his parents car and fondling his date at the drive in.

Connor was panting in his ear, grinding back against Hanks fingers two knuckles deep.

“If you keep pushing back you’ll hit the horn,” Hank warned, shoving Connor forward by his ass.

Connor let out a little high pitched squeak turned moan. “Don’t... care,” he panted. “Don’t stop.”

Hank had no intentions, Rock hard in his six hundred dollar pants Ashton had insisted on.

“You like to be abused?” Hank picked up the pace, feeling the familiar tightening of the androids—

A frantic pounding at their passenger door scared them both.

“What the fuck?!” Hank pulled out of a stiffened Connor, both looking at one another in panic.

Connor with his inhuman speed dressed himself and Hank, sitting down in his seat looking like he’d been there the whole time. He rolled down the window.

“Nines?” Hank demanded in shock. “What the hell are you—?”

“We found them!” He shouted back.

Hank froze. “Found who?”

“The humans taking the androids! They were—“ he closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath. “They were—“

“Take a second, kid. Breath—”

“No! You don’t understand! They were... the bodies were everywhere!” He gripped the side of the car, his weight tilting the car’s suspension.

“Where’s Ashton?” Connor asked, looking around for the human.

“She was right behind me,” he said, looking over his shoulder. He expected to see her jogging up, as out of breath as he was, but there was just the distant crowds.

“Did you call it in?” Connor pressed.

“She— she tried. They ripped her radio from her—“

Hanks stomach fell out. “They assaulted her?! What were you doing?!”

“I—I don’t—It all happened so fast!” Clyde pushed away from the car, starting to hit himself.

“Connor, fucking grab him!”

He was already out of the car, grabbing at Clyde’s arms to stop the self inflicted damage.

Hank got out of the car, only to watch as the suited men fell on the dirty snow, wrestling with one another. If he wasn’t crazy, Clyde was crying.

“Do I need to call the police?” he heard someone say.

“We _are_ the police!” Hank shouted, grabbing each android and ripping them apart. “Get ahold of yourself!” He shouted to Clyde. “Tell me what happened?!”

Clyde’s big blue eyes shinned and his tears left trails on his cheeks.

“We saw men leading some androids away from the crowd. They were shouting about carnival rides. Ashton, she seemed to know they were lying. We approached and they saw me and took off. We pursued them down to a construction zone but... but we lost them. It was dark,” his eyes were haunted, glazed over as he retold with perfect memory. “Ashton... I didn’t see it at first with so little light... I... she thought it was water at first...”

“Did they throw something?” Connor demanded.

“No, it dripped down. I switched to my low light settings and... it hit her again on the other cheek.”

“Blood,” Hank said grimly.

Clyde nodded. “Blue blood. I looked around and... and I froze.”

“What do you see?” Connor prodded generally.

“Blood everywhere... hundreds of bodies... nailed to the walls and cement bridge, everywhere.”

“Someone came and attacked you?” Hank prompted, the story sending a chill down is spine.

“The men we had been chasing before,” he said with more confidence. “They were stronger then I was, I couldn’t hold both of them back. I told her to run before I ran, trying to lead them away from her.”

The detectives looked around, assuring themselves the two men hadn't appeared while they were talking. 

“I need to call this in,” Hank said, turning back towards the car.

“I can do it, Hank,” Connor assured. Hank waited patiently as Connor called the saved number in his head somewhere.

“You got clean memories of their faces?” Hank asked Clyde. 

“Yes,” the determination he saw in normally brown eyes was reassuring. 

“Good. Now let’s go find our girl.”


	8. J:/Computer/CaptureCard/Camera_One/Officer_C

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Could be worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried several different approaches to this chapter. All the way from the very gruesome kidnapping to broken spine injury on escape. I like what I landed on, it'll be a fast track to the ending but also to the great smut.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

Ashton hid behind one of the massive cement cylinder supporting the half finished bridge. The light was damn near nonexistent so far from the celebration and it was working heavily in her favor. The men hadn’t gone after Clyde like he’d wanted, knowing they would lose their advantage to the immortal that never tired. She could hear them calling out to her, far away. Taunting her with thinly vailed threats of sexual assault if they found her. She couldn’t even imagine what would happen if they got a hold of her.

The alleyway her and Clyde had entered through wasn’t too far, maybe two hundred feet in front of her. There were a strew of bodies and the drying Thirium made everything a little slick. It was one of the only light sources in the area. She knew making a run for the light would mean they could see her, but if they happend to be facing the other way… maybe she’d get lucky.

“One, two, three!” She bolted from her hiding place, trying her hardest not too trip on anything. It slowed her down, her escape taking her longer then she thought. She wished she had Clydes pre-construction software.

“There she is!” She could hear one of the shout, but they were to far off to stop her. She was close, less then thirty feet to freedom.

The wiz of a bullet and the cacophony of its gun sound followed. She ducked, refusing to stop her progress to hide again. There wasn’t a point, she needed to get out. She reached the alleyway, making a mad dash to the street. She hadn’t remembered the alleyway being quite so long before, it made her an easy target. She pushed herself, trying to get out.

An android, a young woman turned, face rising in shock as seeing the officer running right at her.

“Get away!” She shouted, waving the woman away.

“Y-yes!” She stumbled, confused but continuing forward. She needed to clear the street. These men were after these androids and she needed to do everything in her power to prote—

The air was knocked from her, pain laced up from her left shoulder and she fell flat, skidding a few feet before the sound of a gun rang in the air again. The crowd heard it this time, multiple turning to see what the cause was.

“Oh my goodness!” The woman screamed. 

“Call the police!”  
“We need to get out of here!”

Ashton gasped, trying to get air back into her lungs.

“Someones shot!” She could hear over the ringing in her ears. “We need to get her!”

“No,” she weakly tried to wave them off, “get away.”

A foot came down over her injured shoulder, a scream ripped from her as bone crunched audibly on bone.

“Think you could run from us?” A breathy voice demanded. “Gonna end your miserable life!” He roared.

“They’re going to kill her!”

The man looked up, seeing the growing crowd.

“Over here, officer!” One of the of droids yelled.

“Shit,” he cursed. “We gotta go.”

“Wait, you have to kill her, she knows where the stash is!” The quieter man said.

“Get away from her,” another android yelled

“There’d no many of them,” the man argued. “We can always kill more.”

Another gun rang out and for one horrible moment, Ashton thought it was for her death.

“SHIT, RUN!” The man shouted, as another rain of bullets were fired from the officer at the mouth of the alley.

Ashton waited, breathing through her nose, trying to get through the pain.

“Hey, you ok?” a familiar voice asked.

“Hit, left shoulder,” she wheezed, unable to look up. “I don’t think it hit anything important.”

“You say that, but theres a lot of blood.” His radio rang. “Dispatch, officer hit, repeat officer hit. Need rescue at—“

Knowing she was safe, she allowed her brain to knock her out.

 

 

*****

 

Clyde pushed past the well meaning nurse, unable to handle her denial of access.

“She’s just gotten back from surgery!” The woman shouted after him.

He’d wait. He’d wait at her side for several of her lifetimes if thats what it took. He needed to be there when she woke up. 

When the news did come in, he thought his thirium pump had stopped working. Everything tunneled out and his processors couldn't handle the sudden rush of feelings. They were all to new, everything from the start of the day at Kamski's to this. It was a good thing he'd been sitting down, he'd shut off for about thirty seconds, his system rebooting to deal with the stress. When he came back online, Hank and Connor were already on their way to see her. He'd just jumped in, refusing to meet his older brothers knowing eyes. 

The door protested to the sudden power pushing it aside. Another nurse was looking over a machine, jumping back as he came right up to the bed.

“Sir, how did you get back here?” She demanded.

“I’m sorry Luna, he pushed by me,” the other one said.

“He… he’s an android. I don’t think he’ll do any harm,” Luna said, looking him over. The other nodded and left. She really looked at him, frozen in shock.

Ashton was connected to nearly half a dozen different machines, all keeping her alive.

“I thought she only got shot once?” he whispered.

“I’m afraid not,” she said sadly, coming to his side. “We found a bullet in her leg as well. We think with the adrenaline, she didn’t feel it make contact. It’s amazing she didn’t bleed out, it nicked a larger vein, here.” she pointed to the high ankle, the cotton rap bulging the scratchy cotton blanket. “We’ve had to use six pints of blood to keep her stable.”

Clyde nodded, falling to his knees. He carefully took her hand, rage boiling just under the surface. His first time seeing her asleep in bed is by medically induced means to allow her body time to recover from the trauma. If only he hadn’t run away, the new sense of fear pushing him to leave. He would never forgive himself for leaving. He would never do it again.

Her fathers arrived only five hours later. He hadn’t called them. It was probably Hank or the Captain who’d had to make the call.

“Oh God!” Tom cried looking at his daughter laying prone on the hospital bead, falling into his partners arms.

“She’s not dead,” Patrick assured, though his face was grim. “She’s not dead.”

They were called out to the hall, catching up with her doctor on her medical history and what they’d done. They left to go find a hotel after a few hours.

“I don’t want to leave,” Tom sobbed, holding onto her hand tightly.

“They said they wouldn’t let her wake up for a few day. We need to give her time,” Patrick pulled his partner away. “We have a job. A place to stay. Lets focus on that. She isn’t going anywhere.”

Every officer dropped by to make sure their newest detective wasn’t dead. Hank and Connor stayed longer, Connor bringing a charging port so that Clyde didn’t shut down guarding his partners side and to update him.

“The man who we believe shot her, died at the scene from his wounds. The other we managed to capture is scared silent.”

“The media are a swarm of activity in the waiting room,” Hank grumbled. “Hate to love it when an officer gets shot.”

On day three, the medical professionals agreed she’d been asleep long enough. Her parents, Clyde, Hank and Connor were all waiting as a nurse administered something into her line.

Slowly. A twitch of a finger. Her breathing and heart rate increased slightly. She turned in the uncomfortable bed, moaning a little. Finally, her eyes blinked open wearily.

“Daddy?” She asked, looking up at Tom in confusion.

Tom gave out a loud sob, collapsing on top of her to give her a tight hug. “Oh my baby girl!”

“Dad,” she reached around, offering her hand for Patrick to hold. He took it, a loving smile as he patted his husbands back reassuringly.

“You HAVE to be more careful!” Tom chided her, pulling back. “You should have let your android partner—“

“Stop,” she ordered him. “I’m not letting him take a shot for me. I know the inherit risk in my line of work and I still proudly were my badge.”

“But—“ Patrick started.

“No. The deviated androids are more then just robots now. You need to understand that. Their code is bypassed any of the restricted doctrine, making code up themselves like we do neurons.”

Patrick looked down at her in curiosity before looking up to Clyde. “When did you download it?”

“How long was I out for? A day?”

“Three,” Clyde offered, coming a little closer to the bed. She smiled warmly up at him.

“That night, before we had to go on shift. But there is some weird shit Kamski tampered with. Its the reason he ran.”

“I would like to take a look,” Patrick said, eyeing Clyde now. “They say you can’t leave till at least tomorrow morning, if you would be willing to give me your keys?”

“Clyde has a spare,” she said. “He can show you.”

“Ok, visiting hours are over,” a nurse interrupted.

“Perfect. We’ll see you later ladybug,” Patrick bent over, kissing her forehead.

Tom hugged her again and they all filed out of the room.

“We can drive,” Patrick offered. “Its a rental anyway.”

Clyde didn’t have the heart to say no.


	9. C:/MyComputer/Android/Code/Downloads/Clyde.exe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clyde Clyde Clyde

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOOOO This is a hell of a chapter my little ones! Its LONG, over 6K, why I didn't post for a few days. I also am not 100% on this chapter, but I don't feel theres more I can do with it. 
> 
> There is 100% SMUT in this chapter, so please take that into consideration while reading. 
> 
> Tags have been updated to reflect the new stuff.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

Patrick beelined for her office the moment the android let them in. He sat in Ashtons chair, opening her computer easily, starting on his work, Clyde at his side. They didn’t say anything to each other. There wasn’t anything to say. Clyde wasn’t sure if what he was feeling was awkwardness, but there was an unsettled feeling thrumming over every nerve as if he should fill the air with words or… something, but was nervous to distract one of his creators in his work.

Patrick made an appreciative sound, running over some of the changes that his daughter had made to try and fix the android.

“Her heart was in the right place, but she would have overridden Kamski’s sensitivity meters and probably killed your processor,” he murmured to himself. “Easy to fix. She was on the right path.”

“Do you think you could uninstall it?” Clyde asked tentatively. “Just the emotions?”

Patrick looked at him, eyes piercing him. “From what I’ve seen so far? No. The software emotion and physical touch code is interlinked, unfortunately. Kamski was very smart about the integration. If I wanted to remove one, I’d have to do the other. The hardware he also installed you with would have to go.” He turned back to her computer, glaring at the code. “The overrides she was trying for are unique, but she has a more basic understanding of the coding language Kamski customized for androids software. I should have this fixed by tomorrow.”

Clyde sat silently, watching the man’s fingers write line after line of code. He had started to let his mind wonder to how Ashton was doing at the hospital, alone. He shouldn’t have left. Should have insisted at being by her side, if only for her mental health. Humans couldn’t stay still like androids could. It bothered him that they hadn’t thought to bring a holopad or any entertainment for her. He should have had the forethought to bring something, emotions had gotten in his way yet again.

“I want to try something,” Patrick spoke up, pulling a direct wire from under the desk. He held it out to Clyde. “Would you let me test it on you?”

“Yes.”

Patrick reached around, deactivating the skin around his neck. The burn of the wire insert was brief but tangible. The human flinched, not expecting to have the android react to the plug in.

“Could you feel that?”

“Yes,” Clyde reached back, soothing his white exoskeleton.

“Kamski’s a sick fuck,” he said, turning back to the computer. “The download should only take a few seconds, its not much. Tell me if you physically feel any different.”

It was only a few seconds and Clyde jerked his right shoulder back, a static feeling covering the entirety of his right forearm and hand. He clenched it, Patrick watching his face closely.

“What do you feel?”

“Its as if… its asleep?” He could move it fine, the synthetic neurons trying to fire causing the discomfort. He could see the errors he’d nearly forgotten about popping up in his periphery.

“Truly fascinating. I’ll retract the change now,” Patrick turned back and sure enough, heat returned like the flood gates had been opened.

“Kamski might be a freak when it comes to his androids, but the man is a bona fide genius where code is concerned. This might take me longer then I thought,” he admitted. “I’ll be at this for a few more hours if you want to go charge and download today onto the memory bank she has out there for you. I’ll set up a testing suite in the mean time so you don’t have to be my guinea pig.”

“Thank you for all your hard work,” he said, standing stiffly. “I’ll go charge myself.”

Patrick was already reading through the code, nodding distractedly.

Clyde stood against the call, Tom sleeping soundly on the couch he normally sat at. He connected himself, falling into stasis with a breath of hope.

Tom made breakfast the next morning, no note of how his husband has been wake for more then twenty four hours mentioned. Clyde was worried of his mental state, keeping quiet with the realization Ashton had gotten her horrible sleeping habits from the man. They all headed back to the hospital, surprised to see the woman they’d come to visit standing outside the emergency curve meant for ambulances, yelling at a nurse.

“What is she doing now?” Patrick said under his breath, turning into the lane.

“—And I signed everything you asked me too!” she yelled, armed with her crutch. “I’m fine, I’m going home!”

“Your doctors strongly recommend you—“

“I’m a fast healer!”

“Honey, listen to the nurse,” Tom said, getting out of the car.

“Daddy,” Ashton warned, hobbling past him to the car. Clyde opened the door, giving her time to find her seat before closing it.

“Is there anything we should know?” he asked the nurse with a disarming smile.

“Oh well—“ she handed him a stack of paper. “This should explain everything.”

“Thank you.”

“Your welcome,” she blushed, heart rate increasing. She turned away in a daze.

“You need to stop doing that,” Patrick said as his husband buckled in.

“I have no idea what your talking about,” Tom said innocently. Clyde thinks he knew exactly what the other man meant.

“Could we stop by the precinct?” Ashton asked once they were on the highway.

“No. You need to take it easy,” Clyde admonished. “Your shoulder was bolted back into place and you can barely walk, give it time too—“

“I want those fuckers and I think I remember something that will get the bird to sing,” she said with a wicked smile. Clyde felt something inside come to meet her hunger, but his more clinical side stomped it down.

“We can call Hank and Connor,” he said, though he hated the thought of them coming into his home.

“No. I need to do this in person,” she argued.

“Honey…” Tom tried.

“No. Now.”

Tom turned, giving his daughter a glare.

She gave a bashful smile, “please?”

The married pair looked at one another, Patrick shrugging. “Couldn’t hurt.” He redirected the cars GPS. “Didn’t think I would be visiting my brother like this,” he admitted.

Aston was out of the car before it came to a full stop, giving Clyde’s Thirium pump a run for its money. “Aston!” He followed after her, a little slower with the slick sidewalks.

She was taking the stairs two at a time, not minding her lack of shoes or bullet wound. She walked straight to the back, ignoring the calls from the other officers. She stopped outside the glass door of the prison cell.

The man was older then she recalled. He hadn’t noticed her yet, elbows on his leg, hunched over with his head in his hands. His hair was starting to gray and his slick paler gave the impression he was coming off detox. She banged once, hard. He eyes snapped up, fear and shock warring with each other in his eyes. He physically recoiled as if she were a ghost.

“What do you want?!” he shouted.

“They weren’t drained. Why?!”

“What?”

“The Thirium wasn’t harvested on site. Why?”

His glare intensified. He went quiet.

“What the hell do you think your doing here kid?” Hank demanded.

Ashton ignored the prisoner, turning to her fellow detective with hope. “The bodies, did CSI get to check them?”

Hank hesitated.

“There were no bodies were you and Clyde said there would be,” Connor said, coming up from behind. “We’ve searched the city and found nothing.”

“Missing android reports?” Clyde demanded, coming up to the scene.

Hank rubbed the back of his neck, “hundreds.”

Ashton hit the glass again, the man was smiling. “You fucking know!”

He shrugged. Quite.

“What kinda time is he looking at?” Ashton asked conversationally. It successfully caught his attention.

“With the new laws? Several life times,” Hank said, rubbing at his beard. 

The prisoners smile disappeared. “New laws?”

“I guess I’ll let the human rot then,” she said, starting to hobble away.

“I’m not goin’ away for some stupid hunk of metal!” He shouted, rising to his feet.

Clyde stepped forward, his interrogation software kicking in. “Admit it. Admit the lack of Thirium meant the cartels had to start stealing it from the androids bodies! Tell me where all those androids were taken!”

He went quiet again, looking down at the floor.

“The docks,” he whispered.

“Need to record this,” Hank said, hand flat against the panel to bring the camera recording UI up.

“We thought it was fitting. Where their rA9 started, we’d finish it. Take the docks back,” he shook his head.

“The docks?” Connor whispered to someone.

“Is that were they’re at?” Clyde demanded.

“The operation was going good. Demand had lowered with the evacuation order but… people started coming back. Customers. They wanted more and more and CyberLife was keeping the Thirium all for themselves. We sat in a circle trying to think of the best course of action and… boss came up with the idea.”

“Boss?”

“Kill the android to take their blood. Easy. There were millions of capsules left rotting in the dumps, keep it from evaporating once extracted. We even found some old tech we modified, soaked up all the blood like a sponge, left nothing behind. We were kings.”

“Does Boss have a name?” Ashton pressed, her shoulder really starting to bother her.

“The first few were easy to kill. Unsuspecting. Word got out though. More migrated to that New Jericho fort that stupid deviant built. Demand was still rising. We thought keeping supply low meant we could raise the price but someone else had starting killing the androids as well. Stole a child bot. We didn’t mess with the kids. The boss had had one at one point and said it was sick. Said the kids were outfitted with different code, they could feel more things then the adults.” He shrugged, “fine by me.”

“Wait, theres a rival?” Hank demanded. “Why not out _them_?”

“We joined together for the big haul,” he man shook his head. “The celebration meant all the androids would come out of hiding. We needed a lot. We needed a way to bring in an unsuspecting android. Carnival. Something they’d probably never seen.”

Ashton could see it, had seen it. The androids had looked happy to experience something new, for the first time. Lead by humans they thought they could trust to their death.

“I don’t know where the bodies were taken. I was only told to be as convincing as possible.”

“Your lying,” Clyde pressed. “Your heart rate increased. Where are the bodies?”

The man shut down, sitting back on the bed. Hank cursed under his breath, ending the recording. 

“They have to be at the docks somewhere,” Ashton said. “If we can get—“

“We?” Hank demanded. “Kid, you can barely stand.”

“And your leg is bleeding,” Clyde admonished, looking at the pant leg that was slowly turning red. “You’ve probably torn something.”

Ashton waved their concern away. “I’m not the important one here! Focus! We need to get to them and save them! They can be fixed and reactivated if we get there!”

“I’ll tell you if I don’t get life,” the prisoner said suddenly, standing right at the glass door. “Promise me.”

Hank ground his teeth, but nodded. “You have my word.”

“We do most of the refinery at the old downtown CyberLife store. Someone didn’t lock the back door and no one would suspect that to be the hub.”

“FOWLER!” Hank shouted, walking off.

“They can handle this,” Clyde said, watching Ashton try her best to follow the older man. “We need to get you home.”

“No, their memories,” she whispered, using his forearm as leverage to keep moving forward. “We have too- They need me.”

Clyde could respect her tenacity, but she was starting to leave little droplets of blood on the polished stone floor. “I’ll have to respectfully disagree. There is no more you can do for them.” He knelt down, sweeping her legs out from under her, catching her shoulders. He ignored her screams of defiance, making his way back down to the car.

“Bridal carry moments always make my heart warm,” Tom told his husband, watching his daughter struggle in the arms of the android approaching them.

“At least someone is enjoying it,” Patrick said, unsure how he felt about seeing his daughter in such a compromised position. “Get it, its cold!”

 

*****

 

Ashton had to watch at home through the arial lens and feed of their local media outlet the capture of the Red Ice ring and the hundreds of androids they’d found. Connor and Hank stood in the background looking through the crime scene as her uncle took over talking to the media personally. Markus and North arrived soon after, helping with the reactivation with a host of medical supplies and parts. Slowly, the androids captured came back to life.

Nearly thirty had already had their memory and hard drives wiped clean, truly dead. All the others made it out with their lives.

“—for the wonderful work of our newest detective team, we never would have found them,” Jeffery said, closing his statement soon after despite the yelled questions.

Clyde watched from her lap, head laying motionless as she ran her hands through his hair. Her fathers had left an hour ago to their hotel, letting her watch the story unfold from the comfort of her couch. His synthetic hair was softer then her own and she had to curb her jealousy. She might have to find new hair products so that her partner wouldn’t show her up.

“What are you thinking about?” She asked softly.

“I’m not thinking. I’m feeling.”

She ran her fingers along his scalp, watching his shoulders tighten and his eyes close. “Feel good?”

“I don’t think there’s anything better,” he admitted through a shaky breath.

“Oh, there are,” she assured, leaning back.

Clyde sat up, his eyes lit up by the tv, “like what?”

Ashton blushed, not having expected the literal question, “oh… uh…”

“You were insinuating sex,” Clyde fished for her.

She couldn’t look him in the eye, feeling her cheeks heating up, “I was.”

“I understand sex is necessary for human children to be born and that there is a level of pleasure in it,” he said ever the analytical one.

“A level of pleasure?” She repeated with a coy smile. “Did some research when Kamski install the hardware?” She couldn’t believe his cheeks were turning blue. “No! Clyde!?”

“It was all new!” he defended, getting to his feet. “I hadn’t given him authorization but he did it and I was— It was research!”

“What did you look up?! When?!” She demanded, sitting closer to the edge of the couch.

He turned away from her so she couldn’t see his face. “I’m not discussing this with you.”

“You look up some freaky shit?” Ashton was pleased to see his back stiffen. “You sly dog! What kinks?”

“I’m not talking to you about it!” Clyde walked around to the office.

“Gonna go look some more up?” She teased. “I can respect that.”

“No—I—Its your room, I couldn’t,” he stammered, leaving the room now, standing awkwardly. Ashton’s sides hurt she was laughing so hard.

“I’m teasing, I’m teasing!” She relented. Clyde refused to move. “Come on, I wont say anything anymore,” she promised, tapping the couch next to her.

Clyde slowly made his way around but didn’t sit on the couch. Instead, he knelt down next to her, eyes like a puppy. Ashton’s brain short circuited for a moment, taking him all in. He was still wearing the Armani suit Kamski had gifted him, jacket and high collar a beautiful show of his high expectations and the small fortune invested. She knew better, saw the man waiting to be set free under his bonds and code. If he wanted it so bad, who was she to shatter expectation?

She pulled from her dominate, placing a hand on his cheek lightly, possessively. “Did you look up BDSM, Clyde?” she asked just above a whisper.

He closed his beautiful eyes, leaning into her touch, “yes.”

“Do you understand what a scene is?”

“Yes.”

“I have full control and you will listen to what I say? Within reason.”

“I’ve never strayed,” he said, eyes opening, pinning her down in place with need.

Ashton took a deep breath, assessing her injuries. If she was being completely honest, if she bled anywhere, that weird mouth obsession Connor had could be played out with his upgraded model sitting on his knees before her. She would thank Hank later for the tidbit he’d drunkly dropped in her lap.

“Well, we need a safe word,” she said. “My normal word is oranges.”

“I had thought to use the green, yellow and red system,” Clyde offered.

“You are the one using it, use what you know. Green?” She asked, moving her thumb to play with his full bottom lip.

He hummed, taking her thumb into his mouth. She groaned, feeling his tongue play against her skin like a promise. “I didn’t ask you to do that,” she said, her voice had a bite. She was so royally fucked.

“Yes, mistress,” he said around her finger, letting it go.

“Have you just interrogated an answer to one of the largest human-on-android crimes in recent history?” she whispered, grabbing his head with both her hands. She leaned over him, his eyes begging her for more.

“Yes, mistress.”

She leaned down, “that makes you a very good boy,” she whispered in his ear. His answering moan was a flash of heat on her nerves. She knew she would have to play this slow. He might have the software to guide him through this, but he was for all intense and purposes, a virgin. She was throwing him in deep letting this scene take place and it could very well backfire. She ignored her good sense letting his eyes, begging her to show him his own pleasure, talk.

“Take the jacked off,” she demanded, bitting her lips to hide her smile as he nearly ripped the jacket in half. He returned to his position, awaiting another order.

“Do you know how to pleasure a woman?” She said, refusing to let her eyes stray from his.

His light flickered yellow a few times. “I was downloaded with some basic instructions,” he offered, eyes searching down her long legs still clad in the ugly blue nurse scrubs.

“Come here,” she pushed the coffee table with her good leg, giving the android room to sit between her legs. She noticed the tent in his expensive pants when Clyde moved to made himself more comfortable. She made him feel that way. He wanted her as bad as she wanted him. It sent a thrill through her being and to her core.

“Help me up,” she said, using his shoulders to stand. He was right there, looking up, chin hidden behind her pants. “Take my pants off,” she ordered.

His LED flashed yellow, hands tentatively reaching for the ties still holding the borrowed garment from the hospital. They fit her big, falling down her legs to pool around her ankles when he pulled harshly.

Clyde hadn’t expected her commando, suddenly looking straight at the place he’d only let five percent of his processor think about. His sensitive nose could smell her most intimate place. He wanted to dive in but he held himself back. Her hand ran through his hair, scrapping at his scalp.

“You’ve been such a good boy,” she praised, sitting back down, barring herself to him. His eyes were locked in.

“Yes, mistress.”

“Would you like to taste?” she asked, teasing herself.

“Yes, mistress.”

The hand still in his hair pulled him forward and down. He didn’t need much more then that. He gripped her hips, pulling her forward and went to work.

Ashton hadn’t expected the rough treatment, but her submissive side screamed for a switch at some point, putting those cords of robotic muscle to work against her skin. She wasn’t sure what Clyde was doing at first, licking like a starved cat at her slit. She was about to say something when he used his fingers to spread her open. His tongue hit right at her clit and didn’t leave for another five minutes. She came twice, screaming his name loud enough she was sure her neighbors had a name to write on the noise complaint to the police.

She pushed him back, groaning at the innocent look he gave her with her slick covering the lower half of his face. “Was that good?” he asked, starting to wipe it away.

“Was that good,” she mumbled to herself, letting the pillow she hadn’t know she was holding go. “Come here.”

She pulled him up, kissing him for the first time. He was stiff, shocked by the sudden show of affection. She worked against him, trying to get him to move. “I can’t do this by myself,” she growled, slotting her lips over his again. He got up from the carpet, grabbing at her back, neck supported by his hand as he dipped her down to kiss her properly. Once of his legs landed between hers, rubbing at her center.

“No, those are expensive, they can’t get wet,” she said, pushing him back. “Take them off.”

Clyde didn’t hesitate in unbuttoning the pants to throw them next to her on the couch with his jacket. He was also commando, no need for the underwear humans wore.

“Holy shit,” she whispered, taking him in. He was on the larger side, thick and a bead of pre-cum waiting for her to lick up. “I’ll have to send my regards to the chief,” she said, taking him in hand.

Clyde sighed, letting her more experienced hand grip him at the base. “Am I… enough?”

Ashton looked up at him in shock. He was insecure? Looking like she had blown him, not the other way around with his hair mused and lips puffy. His blue eyes half lidded and begging for her to move.

“You’ve always been more then enough,” she said, moving her hand.

A strangled groan fell from him, tensing as she moved her strokes farther up each time. He was panting, though he didn’t need the air, hands balled into fists at his side to keep from touching her. In way of experiment, she leaned forward, pulling him up to lick from his balls to his gland.

“F-fuck!” Clyde’s knees nearly buckled. He arched over her, arms grabbing onto the back of the couch for support.

“Are you ok?” She asked in alarm.

“Don’t stop. Please,” he begged, hand gripping the back of her head.

“Hand off,” she ordered, not trusting him to let her take the time she needed to adjust to his size. His hand went back to support him, obediently. “Good boy.”

She gripped his hips and opened her mouth, sticking about three inches in before her gag reflex kicked in. Clyde gave a louder groan, bucking instinctively into the heat. Her mouth was wet and warm and her lips constricted against him as she hollowed out her cheeks. His processor was working overtime to compensate for the sensations the second one was relentlessly sending it. He could only feel her mouth working over him, hands gripping his hips painfully to keep him in place. It didn’t take long, her tongue coxing every sinful noise he could make.

He ripped his cock from her mouth when his balls started to tighten, working himself over with his hand.

“Clyde, what’s the matt—?“ Ashton was shocked when he came. All over her face and chest. She closed her eyes in time, some landing straight over her right eye. She let him have his moment, her need to punish him for his transgression high.

“Oh fuck,” he whispered, mind blown. He now understood why the human men did pulled out to waste it over their lovers. It was the need to mark, to show he possessed her. He was softening in his hand, sensitivity receding, mind rebooting.

“Oh, fuck!” he reached out for something to wipe her face with. Only the expensive suit was there. “I’m sorry, give me a second.” He went to the kitchen, ripping the paper towels cleanly, he wetted them down and rushed back to her. “Look at me.”

He cleaned her, letting her anger hit him like a storm. “I didn’t feel right to cum in—“

“Sit down,” she ordered him. He gave her the towel, sitting down next to his suit, sighing in disappointment. She cleaned her chest, refusing to make eye contact. She walked by him to throw it away, giving him the perfect chance to recite her ass to memory.

“On your knees,” she ordered him. He slipped from the couch and onto the floor, eyes turned downward, waiting.

“I should punish you severely for doing that,” she said, standing in front of him languidly. He held himself in place with every piece of self control software still functioning.

The crack of something against his shoulder made him jump. It stung for only a few seconds, but he was hard again from it. The pain had turned to pleasure.

“Did you like that?” Ashton asked out of true curiosity. Clyde’s nod unlocked something in her.

She brought the wooden spoon she’d grabbed from the kitchen down over his pectoral next. The muscle twitched, the android hissing in pain then pleasure. She cracked it over his high cheek bone next. His head gave just a little, but the shock she wanted was immediate. He reached up, cupping his own jaw, looking at her with those eyes.

“Yellow,” he whispered.

“I think I could push you farther then that,” she said, starting to circle behind him. “Stand up and go to my bedroom. Get on the bed on your hands and knees.”

Clyde stood slowly, Thirium needing a moment to distribute correctly. He slowly walked over to the door only stopping when he felt the soft sheets against his hands, climbing into her sanctuary. He wasn’t sure he wanted to dirty the place he still had yet to enter, but it felt so right.

The spoon grazed his right ass cheek next, earning a yelp.

Ashton couldn’t hide her smile in time as Clyde looked over his shoulder at her, incredulous.

“What with the hitting?” he demanded.

That brought her up short. “Whip play could be considered normal in the BDSM community. Many play with different kinds. I have others, if you like me to use them?”

Clyde spaced for a moment, looking up ‘whip play’. Many were using the correct tool, safe but enough to leave welts.

“If you truly don’t like it, I can stop here,” she said. “Its just fun watching you turn blue.”

“N-no. The face… I didn’t like that,” he whispered. He bent his elbows, raising his ass in the air and taking his weight on his forearms. “It feels good.”

Ashton swore if she were a man, she’d have jumped him. As if were, she was relentless, bringing the spoon down each cheek, smoothing over with her hand as it punished the other side. She was glad to see Clyde so turned on, his pre-cum was starting to make a mess on her bed.

“Ok,” she said after she thought he’d had enough. “That will happen every time you disobey me.”

“Yes, mistress,” he moaned, her soothing hand so close to his balls, he just needed a light brush to make a fool of himself.

“Get on your back and don’t touch yourself.”

Clyde flipped over like a bug, splaying himself out eagle, the only way to stop himself. Ashton laughed, climbing onto her bed, straddling him.

“I need your help,” she said, reaching for his left arm. “You’re much larger then I’m used too. I need you to help prep me.”

Clyde looked between her legs. “What do I need to do?”

“Take these two—” she lowered his index and pinky, leaving the other two up. “—And…” she moved her hips aside, impaling herself with them.

Watching his eyes blow wide as his two fingers filled her was damn near ecstasy. “Do you know what scissoring is?”

His two fingers spread apart in her in way of an answer, moving back out to help stretch her. “Yes, Clyde, just like that.”

She bent down, kissing his through her moans, letting the android take her pleasure.

Every little gasp he could steal from her, he was taking like a robber in the night. He was tentative at first, unknowing of how deep he could go without hurting her. With every forward thrust he went another half inch deeper, till she was taking his fingers to the knuckle. Her ass bouncing back on his fingers would lightly brush his cock, just enough friction to know what the final goal was.

“Clyde, stop,” she ordered, but he wanted to be bad again, she was so close based on her temperature and blood distribution. He grabbed her around the shoulders, bringing her down to his chest, loving the soft way her breasts flattened against him. “Clyde!” He speed his fingers up to near inhuman levels, letting her scream through her orgasm straight into his ear.

“You fucker,” she pushed him away once her bones returned to her. “I should punish you again.”

“No, I need you,” he said, hands resting instinctually on her hips, bucking up into her. “Please.”

Ashton laughed, shaking her head. “You might be too dominate for me,” she muttered, but the sentence had new thoughts buzzing through his head of them being in their reverse rolls. He moaned, bucking through the cleft of her ass for the pleasure he was seeking.

“Fine, fine,” she slapped his chest, getting off him. She got on her hands and knees this time, giving him a perfect view. “You don’t have permission to cum until I tell you, understand?” she demanded.

“Yes, mistress,” he muttered, lining himself up with her. “Please tell me if anything hurts,” he demanded before pressing forward.

She tensed with the pleasure, bitting the sheet beneath her as he stretched her in a way she never had been before.

If he’d thought her mouth was heaven, this was meeting God himself. Her natural lubricant was warm and her muscles tightened around him in welcome. He seated himself, balls deep in the most amazing women he’d ever met. He rubbed at her hips, holding her in place against him. He had a lot of power in this position.

“I’m not going to last,” he warned her.

“If you come, that spoon is gonna meet that sweet ass of yours again,” she warned.

“I love your promises,” he said, bucking up into her. She groaned, hands fisting the sheets.

“I mean it, C-Clyde!” She squeaked his name, throwing her head back as he bucked again. She tightened around him.

He slowly pulled out, relishing the way the uneven texture of her internal walls caressed him, moaning. He snapped back in, memorizing the way _she_ moaned, her nails dug into his thighs and her muscles tightened again.

“Y-your so big,” she gasped, legs locking around him to push him closer.

He pulled out slowly and snapped back in a few times more, but his teasing pace was too much for himself. He slowly picked up the pace, gauging with her moans were she was feeling the best. One particular spot had her gasping to the point of not being able to breath. He angled his hips better, hitting that one spot.

She knew he found it and she tried to grip anything, lost to the sea of pleasure. She wasn’t sure what she was grabbing anymore, trying to ground herself in some sense of reality as her android partner thrust into her relentlessly. He was able to keep a steady robotic rhythm no human could and by god was she going to enjoy herself.

He kissed along her shoulders and neck, her weak point. She gave him full access, surprised when he bit down on her. “Ow!”

He froze mid thrust, turning her on her back. “Sorry, was that too much?” he ran a couple fingers to over the sure to be bruise.

“Yeah. I don’t mind biting, but not in obvious places.”

“I thought necks were the best place?” he said with a stupid smirk. She frowned, wondering what kind of code Kamski had cooked up in that crazy brain of his.

“I love my neck to be played with, but makeup is expensive and coworkers talk. This isn’t—exactly a conventional relationship.”

“Enough talk,” he barred his face back in her shoulder, holding her down in their more vanilla position, entering her again.

He tried. Really hard. No pun intended. He couldn’t stop. The command on repeat to dig as deep as possible into the woman beneath him to pleasure them both. His steady coded staccato wobbled to instinct. He growled, pulling her hips up closer, thrusting harder and harder into her as his stomach started to tighten again.

“Come,” Ashton whimpered, screaming right up to her own ledge. He reached between them, rubbing harshly on her clit, forcing her to arch her back and come first.

The flutter of her walls were like natures vibrations and he rose to meet it. Three harsh jerks and he released into her.

He released her hips, realizing how hard he’d had a hold of them. She slumped down, unable to support her weight in the post orgasm bliss. His softening cock slipped from her, the synthetic cum starting to peak out. He knelt back, watching in fascination as he slipped down towards the bed. He picked some up, trying to put it back.

“What are you doing?” She demanded, slapping his hand away.

“Possession,” he said, reaching out again.

“No,” she warned him, slapping his tentative hand. “I need a shower,” she whispered, looking at the digital clock on the night stand. “Ow, my shoulder,” she moved her arm a little, working out the pain.

“We should have waited for that to heal more,” he said, realizing how much damage they could have done.

“They bolted it back into place. It’s not going anywhere.”

“The skin could have still torn from the stitches.”

“Your such a worry wort. If you want to help me, you can redress it?”

He nodded, following her into the bathroom. Her fathers had gotten everything she’d need for the next few weeks and all her medications. She popped two more pain pills with a few gulps of water.

She straddled the toilet, revealing the extent of the bandage as she removed her shirt.

He could see the curve her her breast, the pert top of a hardened nipple from the cold. He distracted himself, getting all the supplies for the shoulder.

He was gentle unwrapping it for her. The sight of the raised reddened skin, stapled together thirty times brought back the shame and rage. He could take shots and keep going. Parts could be replaced in seconds and he’d be back to work like nothing happened. No, she couldn’t do that. She needed at least four weeks of off time and physical therapy. He bent down, kissing her bad shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized.

“What for?” she asked, curious.

“Running. I should have been your shield but I ran away in fear.”

Ashton turned with a loving smile, “Clyde, you reacted like a human would. You thought the men would follow you. You hadn’t even though to run the pre-construction to see if they would, did you?”

“No. I was… my system was so clogged by the fear, I forgot,” he admitted, hanging his head.

“Shhh,” she took his chin. “We can’t change the past. We can only make the future brighter.”

Clyde nodded, kissing her shoulder again before disinfecting it and wrapping it up again. He helped her to the bed. She fixed the bandage on her ankle there herself, hissing all the while.

“Did you rip anything?”

“No, but it pulled for sure,” she grimaced at the blood soaked bandage. “Probably should have replaced it like daddy told me when we got home,” she said, throwing it away.

“Probably.”

She leaned against him, eyes closing. “Can you do it? I’m tired,” she said, lifting her naked leg onto his naked lap.

Clyde breathed through his nose, busying himself with fixing his broken partner.

“Dad told me he fixed your feeling problem,” she said, getting under her sheets. “I was going to take a look in the morning and if you still want it, have it downloaded.”

Clyde blinked, remembering the predicament.

“I—“

“Don’t worry,” she said through a yawn. “You have the whole night to think about it,” she reasoned, eyes fluttering shut.

He closed her door behind him, dressing slowly back into the suit that now felt too tight.


	10. D:/Documents/and-dcd/grab/folder_1/memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Player three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, work has been shit this week. *Takes a shot*  
> I'm still not completely happy with this chapter, but i've been staring at it for too long now.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

Ashton woke through a haze. It took her what felt like hours to really pull herself from the drugs clinging to her system. She was used to climbing out of bed the moment she was up, getting ready for her day. She blamed it on the years of conditioning by the academy.

There was a sudden banging at the door, probably what had woken her. She hissed when she accidentally moved her ankle, her shoulder throbbing as she put weight on it.

“I’ll get it,” Clyde rolled out of her bed smoothly, putting his pants on and headed for the door. She struggled to her feet nonetheless, watching as Connor burst through.

“Where is she?!” he demanded.

“What’s going on?” Clyde asked in confusion. He’d never seen the deviant act this way. It looked like Connor had haphazardly thrown his clothes on in his rush to get here.

“Connor? Are you ok?” Ashton asked, hobbling to the doorframe.

“Hank,” Clyde greeted dryly, the human panting.

“Nines,” he patted the androids shoulder.

“CSI cross referenced all the bodies that were found at the CyberLife store. Fifty are still unaccounted for,” Connor blurted out.

“Give her the chance to wake up, Con,” Hank chided.

“Are you sure?” Ashton asked, mind trying to process the new information.

“Fifty is to high for error,” Clyde cut in.

“We are sure _all_ the bodies were accounted for?” she asked, rubbing at her temple.

“Every limb and head,” Hank said grimly.

Ashton tried to ignore the pain. “So why are you here? I know you know that there has to be another place they were drawing them away from. Just sit what’s-his-face down and grill him,” she said.

“We tried to get the guy to talk but he was genuinely confused,” Connor said. “His vitals were normal throughout.” The android started pacing in her living room.

“Me and Connor have been talking it over for nearly two hours when he came up with some bat shit crazy idea,” Hank said reluctantly.

Connor stopped, “you said not to tell them.”

“It _is_ androids,” Clyde said, looking up from where he’d been glaring a hole in the linoleum of her tiny foyer.

“Yup,” Hank said.

Ashton turned away, going to her en suit bathroom.

“Ashton?”

“I need pain meds for this talk,” she shouted over her shoulder, popping two.

They waited patiently for her to return, all looking at one another in different variance of concern.

“Connor,” Clyde said, holding his hand out, skin retracted to show his white exoskeleton. Connor willingly took his younger brothers arm, giving the download of the new information so they were working with the same knowledge.

Ashton returned using her crutch, sitting on her couch. The couch that he’d eaten her out on the night before. Where she'd taken control of him and he'd let her.

Her glance over to their swap of information was innocent, her cheeks heating wasn’t. She was looking at Connor in shock, frozen as if she was a deer. Clyde looked at the other android to see a knowing smirk. Clyde retched his arm away, realizing what he’d let happen.

“Everything ok?” Hank asked, looking between the three in confusion.

“Yes, Lieutenant,” Connor said, turning to the junior detective. He gave her a wink while Hank was rolling his eyes. She gave him the finger at the same time.

“Have there been any new reports?” She asked, trying to get the conversation going in the right direction. She shook her head at Clyde. He was glaring daggers into Connors skull. She was sure he’d be ripping the others motherboard out if they were alone.

“No. Not that we know of,” Hank said, taking the other side of the couch. The androids stood on their respective partners side, Clyde still glaring at a knowing Connor.

“Could it have been the other faction he talked about? They did a job themselves and—?”

“No, he said that it was a joint job, teams combined to deal with the android load,” Connor said, cutting her off.

“Right,” she huffed, leaning back against Clyde, mind racing.

“If it is androids,” Clyde started. “Why? We know from what Markus said that they have all the Thirium and bio components they need. What would the motive be?”

Connors smirk dimmed, processors running through everything he knew. They all sat in silence, the quiet hum of the androids working their components double time the only sound.

Both Connors and Clydes LED’s flashed yellow, eyes dimming.

“Another body,” they said at the same time.

“Different MO,” Clyde added, reading through the whole report. Connor was busy helping Hank from the low set couch.

“Stay here and rest,” Hank ordered when she tried to follow.

Clyde hesitated at Ashton’s side. “Captain Fowler is requesting me on the scene,” he murmured. He had to leave her.

Her fingers curled around his, brows curled down in worry. “What’s wrong with that?”

“I don’t want to leave you,” he admitted, thumb running along her knuckles. “What if you fall?”

Ashton giggled, getting to her feet with his help. “My fathers will be here in a few minutes. No need to worry about me.”

“I could stay,” Clyde pushed. “Connor would eventually scan the whole scene without me.”

“I can hear you,” Connor said from the door.

“Go!” Ashton pointed at the door. “Do your job.”

“If anything’s happens again... I don’t know what I’ll do...” he admitted.

Ashton rolled her eyes. “Stop. I know guilt can consume humans alive, but you have the ability to stop run away processes in that high tech brain of yours,” she taps at his temple.

He sighs, shoulders falling. “Ok. I’ll go.”

“We’ll download everything tonight when you get back. Real promise this time.”

Clyde smiled down at the floor, walking towards the pair waiting for him.

“Don’t forget to do your report!” Hank shouted over his shoulder. Ashton groaned, flipping him off for his troubles. Hank let lose a boisterous laugh.

 

 

*****

 

The Thirium had evaporated to the human eye but to the androids, it was splattered like angle wings across the hotel bed and wall. The android was on his knees, chin to chest, back plates open with his wires exposed. His Thirium pump had been forced back to hang off his aluminum spine. Except that he hadn’t, it looked as if he’d been shot with an artistic shot gun.

“This looks like a normal murder,” Clyde said with a grimace. “No wonder the MO is different.”

“Connor?” Hank was holding up a holopad.

“Of course.” Connor interfaced with the pad, giving the Lieutenant access to what he saw. Hank whistled, shaking his head.

“Someone really had it out for this poor guy.”

“Wondered why I smelled whiskey,” a familiar voice said from behind.

“Detective Reed,” Connor's voice was strained, removing his white hand from the holopad. “What are you doing here?”

Clyde had only ever seen the other detective in passing, but the little he’d gathered from his and Connors occasional brief interactions was hostility on both sides.

“Don’t have to tell you, plastic prick,” Reed scoffed.

“What are you doing here, Reed?” Hank demanded, getting between the human and android.

“Look, I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me,” he rubbed the back of his head in annoyance. “Fowler said Ashton being out meant the hunk of plastic needed a partner. So I was sent to babysit the prick till she gets better.”

“I don’t need another partner,” Clyde said. The idea that the man could replace Ashton had a fire burning along his nerves. He fisted his hands to control himself. A quick scan of the detective yielded nothing too impressive.

“None if that scanning shit!” Reed shouted, arms flapping around. As if that would obstruct anything. 

“Should I talk to the Captain?” Clyde begrudgingly whispered to Connor.

The other android shrugged, “there’s a high probability he’d ignore you. Ashton needs weeks to recover and the scale of the investigation had been blown wide open.”

“All we need is her mind,” Clyde said, a little annoyed that they couldn’t just replace her broken shoulder with a new part. He didn’t want to deal with this partner, glaring at him.

“Clyde,” he offered his hand like he’d seen other humans do before.

“God, it’s almost creepy,” Reed said to Hank, looking at the blue eye android like he was a walking insect.

“Don’t be an asshole, he’s less tolerant then Connor is,” Hank said, walking around the android with his offered hand hanging there, waiting.

Reed scowled down at it. “Gavin Reed. Stay the fuck outta my way.”

Clyde lowered his hand, watching the man pass by him. He wanted to both deck him and go straight home to the woman waiting there, hurt and in pain. He repressed the sigh his code thought he need with his higher levels of stress, turning to the framed blood work.

Reed turned to the holopad Hank was holding. “What did you manage to scrape up?”

Hank filled him in, Clyde went back to the body Connor was gently probing.

“This was very deliberate,” Connor whispered, looking at the white duvet splashed in blue.

“But the murder wasn't,” Clyde snarked.

“He puts everyone in a bad mood,” Connor deadpanned. “No reason to take it out on me.”

“No, I’m being serious,” Clyde said, glaring at the older model. “They wiped his memory and left the room a mess. There are foot prints in the bathroom leading down the hall. No fingerprints, hair or skin... An android did this.”

“This isn’t as clean as it normally is. They left some evidence behind,” Hank paraphrased.

“They improvised,” Clyde offered. “The death was not premeditated but the art was?”

“He knew too much,” Reed’s voice cut in. They all looked up at him in shock. “What?”

“That actually makes sense?” Connor asked the room in surprise.

“Why are you all shocked?!” Reed demanded angrily.

“He might have been willing to talk to the police?” Clyde said, thinking out loud. “Or tell someone.”

“They had to dispose of him. This is a way to keep any others thinking of talking, to keep quite,” Reed said. “See it all the time with human gangs.”

“Thats something we could work with, but we didn’t know till this morning the android theory was back on the table,” Hank told his fellow human.

“What if one of the reactivated androids from the CyberLife store saw something?” Reed asked.

“They are being asked for everything they know right now,” Connor reminded him. “It could take days to get through them all.”

“Maybe we should go help them?” Reed said with a sneer. “Maybe it’ll go by faster?”

Connor bit his inner cheek trying to hold back but Clyde was too new to his emotions to have learned that.

“Maybe if you slowed down a little you could keep a girlfriend,” he said under his breath in passing, pulling memories of the few times he’d overheard Reed’s conversations with the other officers. The sputtering was well worth the human’s hatred of him.

 

*****

 

“We haven’t been able to pull very much,” an android was leading them towards the holding station the DPD had been using for the victims in the CyberLife tower. “Nearly ninety nine percent had their memory erased. Some have more time lose then others.”

“What about the one percent?” Clyde asked.

“We are currently downloading what we can gather,” she said, turning down a different hall, opening a door and offering them to enter. “We wanted to have copies for the police,” she said standing in the middle of the sterile room.

Seven androids were laid out on hospital beds, skull plates removed and wires coming out to analyze them. They were all in stasis, hopefully not in any pain.

“Can we see what has been gathered so far?” Connor asked, scanning over a body while Clyde watched his inefficiency.

“Yes, back here,” she said, patting the terminal for the room. “I’ve given you limited access to them, for the sake of privacy.”

Reed snorted, earning him several dirty looks. He glared, shrugging away his uncomfortable feelings.

“Thank you,” Clyde bid the android as she left.

Connor took point, opening folders and clips, watching them at thirty two times speed. Clyde analyzed their bodies, looking for any external evidence.

“Fucking taking our jobs,” Reed grumbled, watching them work.

“You came up with the idea, shut up,” Hank reminded him, watching over Connors shoulder.

“There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot here,” Connor said, frustrated. He was clicking through clips faster and faster.

“They were awake before this, weren’t they?” Clyde asked no one.

“Maybe if we wake them and interface we would gather more information?”

“We’d need permission to breach their download.”

“We’ll wait then, hopefully its because they aren’t done yet,” Connor said, sitting back in the chair. Hank subconsciously started playing with the hair at the nape of his neck, setting Reed off.

“Fucking get a room if you wanna do that shit!” he said, turning towards the door in disgust.

Clyde analyzed the human as he walked by, raising an eyebrow. It couldn’t be that easy, could it?

Clyde stopped Reed with a hand on his chest.

“Don’t you ever fucking touch me!” Reed damn near screeched, throwing Clyde’s hand off him.

The android leaned in, “your attracted to androids.”

Reed looked similar to Ashton that morning, deer in the headlights.

Clyde patted his chest, “your secrete is safe with me.”

“You have no fucking idea what your saying!” He wheezed, leaving the room.

“What did you say?” Hank asked.

Connor and Clyde looked at one another, smiling evilly. They might actually have fun while the investigation was turning to shit.

“Never mind, I don’t want to know with you two smiling like that.”

There was a gasp on Clyde’s right, and then a scream that could never be wiped from his memory. It was a young woman, AX 400 model. She was half out of the bed, wires snapping from their ports. Her eyes were unfocused but she was trying to run away.

“No! Please! Leave me alone!” She begged, thinking she was back under the bridge or in the store.

Clyde instinctively reached out to grab her, to steady his fellow android. She screamed again, pure terror.

“NO!”

“Ma’am I’m an officer!” he tried to reason with her, but she was clawing at him. Damage errors started popping up forcing Clyde to release her before she snagged his optical unit. She threw herself backward against her bed, sobbing.

“No, please! I’ll do anything, let me live!”

“Shut her down!” Hank shouted over the panic.

“I—I can’t!” Clyde said. The AX models power module was at the base of the spine. He’d have to pin her down and he didn’t want to frighten or accidentally damage her. He quickly scanned her, trying to understand why her own optical units were down. The only wire left in her head was the reason. He gently reached around, pulling the wire free.

She blinked a few times, pushing herself back against the medical equipment when she noticed his hovering over her. She calmed when her eyes noticed the LED whirling yellow at his temple.

“Who… Who are you?” She asked, skeptical.

Clyde knelt down to her level, interactive software kicking in.

“I’m an RK 900 series detective unit working with the DPD. My name is Clyde. You woke up from your stasis early.”

“They—They asked us who still remembered,” she recalled. “I—It was so dark.”

“Her download completed,” Connor mentioned. Her head turned in his direction.

“Who’s that?” She demanded, voice rising several octaves.

“I have another of my model series, a 800 unit called Connor and his partner, Hank also here by order of the DPD. They are looking through your memories CyberLife downloaded from your internal memory storage.”

She was a little bewildered before realization hit her. “My husband, Joe!” She got to her feet, looking around at the other androids. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know ma’am. The others are out in the holding room,” Hank said, coming around the terminal. “I can take you down there to look for him.”

“Yes, please,” she sobbed, letting the human lead her back down.

“Do you think they’ll all wake like that?” Connor asked, eyes scrunched as he scrubbed through her night.

“I hope not,” Clyde said. He wasn’t sure how much more his Thirium pump could take.


	11. C:/MyComputer/Android/Code/Downloads/reverse.exe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking a step back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, like... feelings in this one. I feel because i've been writing so quickly, i've limited myself by accident being so naturally dialogue heavy. I tried to take a step back and force myself not to write quite so much just dialogue scenes but... its a default setting.
> 
> Enjoy!

Hank and Gavin had the need to eat, so they stopped by the local Chicken Feed place that Hank had taken Ashton a couple days ago. Hank and Connor bickered over what the human should eat, Reed throwing in his two cents about being whipped with an amused smile.

Clyde stood by himself at a table to hold it, watching on with a small smile playing at his lips. He wished Ashton was the one making snide comments, not Reed but it felt natural in a way that made him feel guilty. She was siting at home probably agonizing over his broken code, Patrick there to fix any mistakes and reassure her. He reasoned he’d be there in a few hours regardless and he may be back to normal.

His fingers could feel the tacky texture of dried sugar syrup on the table and sighed. He would miss it, but these feelings were interfering with his job. He needed a clear processor and since the integration he’d had anything but. His emotions were getting messy and taking up more room then was appropriate.

The small group had food in hand, walking towards him, drawing his eyes back up. Movement to his left caught his eye, flicking over to zero in on an android curled over another in an alleyway across the street. It was quick, but he witnessed the one reach around to deactivating the android. It slumped forward and in one quick motion, the skull cap was popped open to remove any memories. He was running, unable to hear the shouts from the others. He needed the victim intact for the sake of closing the case.

The android heard Clydes footfalls, eyes widening in shock when he realized he’d been caught. He took off, android left intact. Clyde knew Connor would find the android slumped there, following the perpetrator down the alleyway. It brought back the horrible memories of leaving Ashton behind, but he didn’t need those right now. He pushed everything down, feeling his Thirium pump working overtime to keep corded muscles cool.

He was so close to the android, pushing himself harder and faster before jumping and tackling the android to the ground.

“Fuck get off me!” he shouted, trying to squirm out of his hold.

Clyde dug his knee into his back, pinning him down. He pulled his arms back, waiting for someone to catch up, staying astride no matter how much the other tried to break away.

“Holy shit, how did you even see that?” Reed said, pulling cuffs from his belt to hand over. Clyde strapped them over the androids wrists, pulling him up to stand .

“If you hadn’t been coming back with the food, I wouldn’t have seen it,” he admitted, turning back the way they had come. He had some interrogating to do.

 

 

*

 

 

Connor was with him in the room, lounging against the fall wall his his arms crossed over his body. The android self proclaimed Robert was glaring at them both. His stress level was at forty five percent and climbing. Good.

“Why are you killing your own kind?” Clyde asked casually, pulling up pictures from the crime scenes. Robert only glanced down at them for a moment, disgust made him jerk away.

“I’m not.”

“You were going to erase that androids memory,” Clyde argued.

“You have no idea what the fuck I was doing,” Robert said, slamming his hands down on the table. Clyde only gave him a bland look, unimpressed.

“If you are innocent, just tell us what you’d planned to do with that android in the alleyway, away from prying eyes, and we will let you go,” Connor spoke up, shrugging. “It’s simple.”

“I have rights now. I want a lawyer if your convicting me of something.”

Clyde stood, “we’ll call one for you.”

“Nah, I have the right to chose and I have one,” Robert sat back with a sigh. “Just need a phone.”

Connor rolled his eyes, “you have a phone programed into your basic code.”

“Code was corrupted when my slave family had to restart me a few times. Haven’t been capable to use the function in a few years,” he argued.

A knock on the door. Connor answered it, taking the phone. He handed it over, waiting patiently at Clydes side. They watched him type in a number, but it was two digits too long.

“What do you think your—“ Clyde cupped his hands over his ears, doubling over in pain at the high ringing his ears were picking up. He managed to open his watering eyes, seeing Connor in much the same position. The android was at the door, trying to beat it down by sheer force. The door didn’t stand a chance against the desperate android.

Clyde ripped his audio processors out, waiting for the garbled feedback to stop and his world to stabilize. He’d lost some balance, but his gyroscope was trying to make up the difference. He grabbed at the android as the integrity of the metal door fell to three precent. He flipped him over and slammed him onto his back. The action would have winded a human, but the android popped back up, snarl at his lips. He pounced, Clyde unbalanced took the full brunt as they fell back against the door. Clyde felt it give, falling through it into the hallway.

Reed and Hank were there, standing with their guns trained down on the android. There was chaos in the background.

“Shoot it!” Clyde ordered, not minding that he was in the line of fire. The humans hesitated long enough, Robert jumped up and attacked Reed.

Connor rushed from the room, peeling the android off the human and getting him into a choke hold.Robert struggled, kicking and clawing at anything he could. Clyde pushed himself up, grabbing at the androids legs to stop any more damage from accumulating.

He held on till a set of cuffs was in his line of vision. He took them, roughly placing them around ankles. He stood back, Robert had gone slack, letting his weight be a deterrent as two cops grabbed him and dragged him off to a glass cell.

Reed was holding his audio processors with grim resolution. Clyde thanked him with a single nod, placing them back.

“Fucker knew a dead line,” he heard Hank say. “Don’t know how it caused an audio feed back loop to play.”

“To many androids in a small room,” Connor explained.

“Are you ok?” Clyde asked, looking at the torn clothing Connor had sustained. His mouth had a line of blue.

“Minor damage,” Connor said, wiping at this mouth. “I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, I’m fine too,” Reed said sarcastically.

“You look fine,” Clyde said with a shrug. “A little shaken maybe.”

“I’m not shaken!” Reed turned an interesting shade of red. He turned on his heels, walking towards the bullpen.

“Go home, Nines. We’ll try again in the morning,” Hank said, phone in the evidence bag.

He couldn’t argue. It was the one place he really wanted to be. He bid them fair well with a wave over his shoulder, calling a taxi. He gave her address and closed his eyes, relaxing. His system was still on alert, trying to process the last two hours. They were getting very sloppy. Demand for Red Ice was so high they were trying to steal androids in the middle of the day?

“How was your day?” She greeted as he strolled through the unlocked door. Her stomach was showing, shirt having ridden up at some point. She was sprawled out across the couch, foot elevated and shoulder cushioned.

“I found an android trying to wipe another memory,” he answered.

She jerked in surprise. “What?!”

“Chased him down and interrogated him. Didn’t get much.” He didn’t need to worry her over the dirty details. He technically shouldn’t be telling her this, she wasn’t apart of the case anymore, but fuck it.

“Dad is in there, waiting,” she said, sitting up a little with a wince. “Go ahead, I’ll be there in a sec.”

Clyde loosened his tie and left his suit jacket over the back of the couch. He knocked on the door, seeing Patrick glaring at the right computer monitor as if it’d defaced his mothers tomb. He looked up, a smile spreading his lips.

“Clyde, please, have a seat,” he patted the new chair they’d placed there. Clyde took it, looking over his code.

“I think we figured it out,” Ashton said from the door.

“Let me run a test before we do a full system integration,” Patrick said, holding up the cord again. Clyde lowered himself so the man could place it properly. The jolt of pain was the same.

Ashtons fingers splayed along his back, warm and welcome. “Did you feel that?” She demanded.

“Kamski,” her father cursed under his breath. “Downloading the test.”

The bar loaded behind his eyes. He closed them, waiting to feel something different. 98… 99… 100.

He buckled, feeling as if his Thirium pump had been ripped from him. The second processor for his nerves went off line, the feedback returning to just the pressure plates. The pleasure of feeling Ashton touching him dulled to the realization a partnership could be formed if need be. No emotion was found, none in his memory could get through. It felt as if he needed to try, memory able to serve him a perfect example of how, but his code shoved him into the perfect android box and kept him there.

The chains he hadn’t known he was wearing were back in place and the world turned to grey around him.

“Clyde?” Her voice was worried for him.

He couldn’t back down. This is what he needed. Things were black and white again. His processor was free, cleaning up the last of his emotions from his RAM.

“I feel better. Back to normal,” he lied, straightening himself out. Patrick was looking through him, to the soul he didn’t have.

“Are you sure?” He asked. “It looked painful.”

“I don’t feel anymore,” he assured, fingers registering the pressure of the chair running along his fingers but no texture. “My main processor has been freed up.”

“There’s no interference from the other one, is there?” Patrick asked.

“Its off line, ready to be reactivated.”

“Good,” he said with a nod, turning back to the computer. “I can place more permeant restrictions on the code with a full update. It will take a few hours to do that, since you have some high level firewalls to work around.”

Ashton had come around, looking him in the eye. A scan showed she was worried. Her eyes had accumulated tears but they had yet to spill.

“We can leave you like this. You would have full permissions to change the code when you wanted. But once its back, its back. The update could be reinstalled… every time. If you wanted it.”

“No. If I get shocked, I don’t want to worry about a rush of emotions coming back online.”

Patrick nodded in understanding. Ashton shook her head.

“I think you were really starting to get the hang of everything. Are you sure you—?”

“Yes.” No.

Ashton knew. He could see it by the way her shoulders tightened and she took in a shaky breath. He needed this. The more she pushed him… he wasn’t sure if he could hang on to his resolve.

“Ok. I’ll see you in a few hours,” she said, patting his shoulder as she walked from the room. He knew he should have felt shame, remorse. Anything. He couldn’t and it made him feel dull. He sat, waiting.

“Enter stasis and I will get this underway,” Patrick said, pulling up more software launchers and readers.

Clyde closed his eyes, code restricting his hope that he wasn’t making an error filled choice.

 

*****

 

Ashton hadn’t let him back into her bed that night. He could still feel the arosle she’d awakened in him the night before, even with the restrictions back in place. She was sad that he’d given up on the experiment, and he could feel an echo of that same disappointment in himself, but the mission came first. He stood by his charging port and memory bank, slipping into stasis for the second time.

 

*

 

She watched him move mechanically around the apartment over the lip of her coffee mug. The easy way his shoulder had learned to sit in was replaced with ridged formality. The curious glint in his eye had died. He didn’t leave a trail of fire on her skin when he regarded her. She hated it.

Ashton hated that she liked when Connor knocked on the door to get him for work. She hated that the lose of his presences was a weight lifted. She hated that she had to pretend in front of her fathers that she was ok with the sudden personality shift in her partner. She hated that she couldn’t go back to work to distract herself. Her house had become a living nightmare and she wasn’t sure how it had all changed so quickly.

 

 

*

 

 

Clyde watched Connor get up from his seat, walk over and stand before his desk. He looked up at the older model with a raised eyebrow. He, Hank and Reed had all been acting strange this morning. Their warm personalities were gone and their body language was distant.

“Follow me,” Connor ordered. Clyde stood and did as requested, following him down to the archive room. Connor’s foot was beating against the ground, arms folded. “What happened to you?” he demanded.

“What happened to me? I can assure you I’m fine.”

“No. Your personality is different. Robert didn’t plant a bug in you or something, did he?” Connor was scanning him.

Clyde stood statically, waiting for the android to finish his processing. “No. The upgrades that Kamski had seen fit to install without my permission was turned off last night. That might be what your system is picking up.”

Connor looked at him in horror. “It was turned off? By who? Does Ashton know about this?”

“She made it. Her father perfected it,” he said, looking down at his hands. “The emotions were getting in the way of the investigation. I requested they be turned off. This is no ones fault but my own.”

Connor looked pale.

“Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No. No that was it.”

Clyde turned on his heels and walked back up the stairs, missing the look of pity.

 

*

 

“I don’t know about any Red Ice ring,” Markus said off handedly. He had returned at the request of Connor to help them think of anything that could convince androids to start attacking one another over an abundant resource. He had been staring at Clyde for nearly three minutes straight.

“We have mentioned your name a few times during our interrogation and he reacts to you with high regard,” Clyde said. “We wanted to bring you in, see if you would sit in, give us an upper hand?”

“What happened to you?” Markus demanded, eyes narrowing as he tried to process what was different.

Clyde was getting really tired of being asked that. He’d acted out earlier when Reed wouldn’t get off his back about it, spilling hot coffee over the detectives head. Hank had been smiling when he ordered Clyde to walk it off and Reed to go get cleaned up. His code was being pushing past its limits, waring with his memories of emotions but unable to process them anymore.

“He had some experimental code turned off,” Connor explained, glaring at the ground.

“Holy shit, is that what happened?” Hank said, regarding Clyde with a side eye he didn’t much like.

“I need to focus on the investigation and the emotions were getting in the way,” he explained for the tenth time. “Can we get back to work, please?”

“Your emotions make you deviant,” Markus said, getting up from the table he’d been leaning against. “Why did you erase your deviancy?”

“I just said—“

“No. Its bullshit,” Markus cut him off. A shadow of rage crept up.

“I think I know what my systems are capable of handling. The forced upgrades were not—“

“Your running,” Markus was close. His green and blue eyes pinning Clyde back by his ears. “You ran from yourself. From her. From this,” he waved to the small group. Hank, Connor, Captain Fowler even… Reed. “Having free will allows you to remove them, but being a coward is unsightly.”

He had Markus by the collar of his shirt and against the plexiglass wall before his processor could catch him up.

“Whoa, hey!” Hank shouted.

Connor was at his side, glaring. “Put him down,” he ordered. He didn’t want to. The lash of rage burned hot through his systems. held just in check so as not to punch their leader out.

“Your emotions are still there,” Markus said, striking gold. “You just cut out the ability to process them. Didn’t Kamski warn you not to shut the system down?”

Clyde released him, taking a step back. He was breathing heavy for no reason, chest tight. Everything felt to much but the box was still in place. He could hear everything beating against the box but he couldn’t get away from it this time.

“Shit, he’s freezing,” Markus said. “Sit him down, give him a second.”

Clyde put his head in his hands, trying to force himself to get a grip. This had been a mistake. He had to go back to Kamski. Beg to get it removed properly.

“I don’t know how you do it,” he whispered just loud enough for the androids to hear.

“We fell into ours. You were upgraded with it. The difference was choice,” Connor said, laying a hand on his shoulder, crouching down took pear into broken blue ones.

“He’s right. You’ve had to make some horrible choices and… I believe you made the wrong call.”

Clyde remembered how distant Ashton was with him. No matter how he tried to reach out, she rebuffed him. He was now a walking mistake she was being forced to deal with.

“I can ask them to reverse it tonight, but we still need to finish today,” he said resolutely.

“I will keep an eye on our supplies but like I said before, there is no change. Androids are terrified to leave after the celebration attacks. Now knowing that we have our own out there hunting us down… This is getting dire,” Markus said, leaning beside Clyde.

“The androids are messy but they can be. They don’t leave any physical evidence behind. The humans are sterile and thorough,” he whispered to himself. “The humans teamed up and were able to amass a huge number of androids. The androids seemed to have done the same thing?”

“Do you remember if they were making Red Ice at the store?” Hank asked.

“There were some labs,” Connor agreed.

“No, thats to small. They would need a city block with the rate their killing androids. Red Ice takes time and room to evaporate properly.”

“So we find the murders by following the trail of Red Ice?” Clyde demanded. “That’s a little backwards.”

“Its all we have,” Reed said, rubbing at his face. They all looked at him in shock.

“What did Robert do?” Clyde demanded.

“He banged his head against the side of the chair till he turned off,” Reed spat. “Didn’t get shit from the plastic fucker.”

“Could CSI look through his memories?” Markus asked.

“He damaged the back of his head,” Reed said, angrily throwing himself down on his chair. “So probably not much.”

“They have to know we had Robert, by now,” Connor said. “They will be on high alert.”

“We are being to messy ourselves. We need to streamline and hit from one point,” Clyde agreed.

“We could hit every street corner and lock up as many of the dealers as possible, see which one cracks first,” Hank offered with a sly grin. “That’s always fun.”

“They would only know their supplier,” Clyde argued.

“And the supplier could potentially know the ones making it and in turn they know who’s murdering androids,” Connor shot, correcting the newer models way of thinking. Clyde took the hit with a nod, understanding.

“So…” Reed caught their attention. “Best of luck to whom catches the most?” He said, grabbing his car keys.

Connor and Clyde looked at each other with knowing smiles.

“Don’t even try Reed!” Hank said, taking off after the younger man. The androids followed, Markus left wondering what had happened to switch the mood so suddenly.

 

*****

 

Tom perked up from the magazine he was scrolling through when the buzzer started ringing. Patrick was helping Ashton bandage her shoulder, so he thought nothing of it to answer.

“Who is it?” he asked through the speaker.

“Tom? Its Connor!” The android replied.

“Hello, come on up!” He buzzed him up, standing by the door to let him in, magazine still in hand.

The light knock was tentative, so like Connor. Tom opened it, reading the last sentence. “They are in the bathroom doing—“ he glanced up and froze.

It wasn’t Connor. It was an android dressed in punk black clothes, holding a gun to his head. He dropped the magazine, stepping away from the door, hands at his head. “You don’t have to do this.”

“They’re too close,” the android said in Connors voice still, shoulders lifted in a shrug. “You said she was in the bathroom? Where?”

“You can’t have her,” Tom said eyes hard.

“Connor, we’re close?” She said from the bedroom. Tom cursed under his breath, watching his daughter hobble into view. The shock in her eyes as the gun was drawn on her was instant. “Who the fuck are you?!” She demanded, muscle memory reaching for the gun that wasn’t at her side.

“Hands in the air!” he shouted, taking a more defensive pose. “Your coming with me!”

“Ok, I’ll go with you. Just leave my dad alone,” she said. “I need to use this to walk,” she patted the crutch. “I’m going to walk towards you now.”

He pulled her towards himself, gun pointed at her head. Tom wanted to jump to save her but couldn’t, watching as the crazed android dragged her from her own apartment.

“Call the police and she dies!” he shouted from the hall.

 

Ashton was slung over his shoulder and he took off. Thinking quick, she noticed there was a hole in the raggedy shirt the android had chosen. She tore through the fabric with her teeth, dropping at the threshold of the stairwell.

He bounced on every stair, hitting her abdomen on solid metal was not fun. “Could you at least go slower?”

“Shut the fuck up!”

She rolled her eyes, letting him take her. There was a larger SUV waiting for them. She was thrown onto the floor, the boy taking the front seat as they speed off.

“What the hell do you even need me for?”

“They took Robert. That partner of yours is to close. We need leverage,” the driver spat. “Filthy human.

“Kidnapping me will lead them straight to you,” she argued.

“Knock her out!” The boy screamed.

She closed her eyes, accepting the crack of a hand at her shoulder and neck, falling into blackness

 

*

 

Clyde paused from digging his elbow between the shoulder blades of his and Reeds third drug dealer in under thirty minutes. It was Tom.

“Hello?”

“They took her!” He sobbed.

Clyde froze.

“What?” Reed demanded, smile falling.

“They—They used Connors voice to get in! I thought you guys had come back to update her for lunch and— Holy shit they took her!” Tom was rambling, the carcouphony of emotions waring within Clyde had a vice grip around his throat.

“Call the station,” Clyde ordered. “We will be there in ten minutes.” He hung up, starting up another call to Connor. “Let the guy go,” Clyde ordered Reed, turning back to the car.

“Excuse me?!” Reed demanded. The dealer was just as confused. “You want me to what?!”

Clyde glared down at him with barely concealed rage when Connor picked up. “Ready to concede? We have four in the back of—“

“Ashton was kidnapped,” Clyde cut across the others boasting. Reed and Connor both went quiet.

“What?!” They demanded at the same time.

“Tom called me in hysterics. They mimicked your voice,” Clyde ripped the car door open. “Get to the station. They just gave us our trail.” 


	12. Update available: Emotions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parts for Parts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK. REAL TALK. GORE. IMPLIED GORE. BODY PARTS. SERIOUSLY.
> 
> I wanted to take my time with this part. Re-wrote is a few times to get the plot coming to the ending I wanted. I feel I could push it more, but i'm working on my next piece and really want to move on to that, so this might feel a little rushed, sorry~!

“Have any demands come in?” Markus asked through the phone.

“No, not yet,” Connor said, watching the barely contained android pacing in the corner of the station.

Markus always knew. “How is he doing?”

“Bad. I’ve never seen him so upset,” Connor admitted. When they entered the station again, drug dealers in tow, Clyde had been frantically trying to explain to Captain Fowler what was happening. Eventually the panicked officer prattled off that the junior detective had been kidnaped from her home. Captain Fowler jumped into action, calling people and getting the word out to look for her.

The station was on high alert. No one liked one of their own getting taken.

“Its like he’s trying to feel,” Reed added, watching. “He just doesn’t know what to do with the energy.”

“I GOT A CALL!” Someone from the bullpen shouted. The whole building went quiet. Captain Fowler descended from his office, people parting like water as he rushed over to the officer holding out the phone to him. They held their collective breath as he took the phone.

“Captain Jeffery Fowler of the Detroit Police Department,” he said. He waited, a garbled voice coming through. CSI rushed to the phone line to triangulate the call.

“Can you hear?” Reed asked Connor. He shook his head, watching, analyzing every little twitch and micro-expression.

Fowler suddenly sputtered. “How much?!”

The instructions were repeated.

“The whole city doesn’t have that much!” he argued.

“What do you think it is?” Connor asked.

“Thirium,” Clyde said, suddenly at their side. He was glaring daggers at the phone.

“Can _you_ hear it?”

Clyde nodded. “Can’t you?” he demanded of the older model.

“You need to give us more time. We have to work with CyberLife to collect the— No, that’s not what—“ he suddenly went pale.

“A package was delivered,” one of the receptionist mentioned, holding a medium sized box.

“NO ONE OPEN THAT!” the Captain demanded. “We are willing to work with you, twelve hours isn’t a lot of—“ he looked down at the phone incredulously.

“What are they asking for?” Hank was there at his old friends side.

“They— They want a million gallons of Thirium delivered to the old airport east of the city” Fowler said, shoulder hunched over the table, phone still in hand. “They said body parts will appear every hour if their demands aren’t met.”

All eyes turned to the receptionist. She looked disgusted, placing the box down gently on the desk in front of her.

Clyde was the first there, opening the box. His systems froze, unable to handle the shock. It was a lock of her hair, curled delicately on top of cotton soaked in dried blood.

“Holy shit!” Hank shouted, turning away from the box.

“This is a warning,” Connor said, taking a few fibers of the cotton and putting them into his mouth to the detest of everyone watching. “It’s not human blood. Its pigs.” he announced.

Clyde felt every joint in his body relax. “That is her hair.”

“It looks like it,” Connor assured. Neither wanted to analyze it.

“Were you able to…?” The Captain asked the CSI personal. They shook their heads in frustration.

“We didn’t have time to hook into the network to trace it back.”

“We need to call the FBI,” Fowler said. “This level of negation is beyond our capabilities.”

“Bring in the CIA if we have to, we need to get our girl back!” Hank shouted at him.

 

****

 

“And to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” Kamski asked, sitting down in front of the camera. Half the precinct, two androids and a few FBI agents were crammed into the small conference room.

“Have you had the chance to review the email we sent?” One of the FBI agents demanded.

“I had some time to scoff at their demands, yes,” Kamski said, chuckling. “Have they asked for something more reasonable or did you convince them to see reason.”

The room was deathly quite. “Mister Kamski, this is very serious. We have an officers life on the line for a million gallons of potentially traceless Thirium,” the agent was leaning against the table, arms spread wide. “Can CyberLife supply that level of blue blood in the next ten hours or not?”

“Certainly not,” Kamski scoffed. “Theres maybe only three fourths of that amount roaming your city, at the rate the killings are persisting.”

Connor got to his feet. “You always said that customers could depend on CyberLife for anything they needed.”

Kamski rolled his eyes. “This isn’t a customer, this is a mad man.”

“So if all the androids in Detroit suddenly needed ten bottles of Thirium each, you couldn’t supply it?” Clyde pipped up.

Kamski leveled a look at him that should have melted the fiberglass holding his exoskeleton together. He ignored Clyde altogether, turning back to the agent. “CyberLife will have to refuse the demands of the government based on Article four, subsection twenty three, paragraph seven, lines three and four; ‘all I.P. can be distributed as seen fit by the I.P. holder. Including federal and international disagreements.’” he prattled off.

“This will look very bad on CyberLife,” Markus said from the door.

Kamski’s wicked smile returned. “Any press is good press, Markus. You know that by now thought.”

“Could you recover from letting them rip a young officer apart?” He asked, standing next to the FBI agent at the head of the table.

Kamski’s smile faltered. “What?”

“Need to read your emails all the way through. They are sending a body part an hour,” Markus said, throwing a good sized box into the middle of the table. Everyone recoiled, shocked by the left arm laying there.

Kamski’s smile was gone, grim exhaustion taking its place as the mask slipped. Resolution burned when he opened his eyes again. “We can’t help. I’m sorry. The stakeholders have made their minds up. They want nothing to do with this case.”

“This case had reached far beyond what we thought it would,” Connor cut back in, supporting the man that had freed him.

“We can’t supply that level of Thirium all together, but you just might be able to help.” He turned back to Markus. “There is another shipment ready for delivery in less than an hour. If you wish us to halt the sending, we might be able to fill half that order.”

“You think I’d ask my people to make up half a million gallons?” Markus demanded.

“I expect you to make as many sacrifices for the human as you seem willing to run your mouth defending her,” Kamski said. “Now, based off some basic numbers, and depending on how low your current Thirium levels are in New Jericho, there is another quarter million there and another quarter in the veins of the androids.”

“I’m not destroying my people to—!”

“I will send technicians down on our payroll to assist with the massive influx.” He looked at the arm again, shivering. “That’s all I can do.” The video feed cut suddenly.

Hank grabbed the box, covering his nose and mouth. Connor reached for it but Hank pulled back.

“Don’t worry about me,” Hank grumbled. “Just gonna take this down to the lab.”

Clyde left the room feeling empty. He thankful for the first time since that morning his emotions were removed. It was hard enough to deal with the basic set all androids were equipped with. He couldn’t look at the arm. At least it wasn’t her dominate. That would probably be next.

 

****

 

The shipment of Thirium was early, totaling almost seven hundred thousand gallons in once place. But it wasn’t enough. The Thirium collected was already being turned around for the little over an hour journey. Air ways had been cleared in preparation for direct flights.

“We might be able to get another hundred thousand down there,” Kamski said, hair in disarray. “But it would take up till the last minute.”

“Just send us what you have when you have it,” Markus argued, just as frazzled. “We are making up the difference faster then expected but any android I don’t have to shut down, I wont.”

Six hours had passed. The growing number of body parts Clyde was actively dodging being reported, was sickening. Each minute ticked by like seconds, androids rushing around. The level of support for the woman that had been trying to find these mad androids was staggering. There was a line wrapped several times around for those willing to be shut down temporarily to give their Thirium supplies to save her life.

News outlets had gotten wind and it was trending as the current largest news story. Helicopters flew over New Jericho, recounting the tails of the brave androids and their trials against their own monsters. Markus had gone to talk to the reporters a few times now, a rallying cry for the support this particular human had show for their cause and the return in fold the android community would show her.

To Clyde it all felt empty. Until she was in his arms again, the damage to her body halted, he couldn’t think of anything else to do but sit and try not to have the human equivalent of a panic attack.

 

 *****

 

“No set of androids needs that much Thirium,” Connor said to himself. He’d been running over the same information for thirty minutes now. “Why would they need all of it?”

“Who knows!” Clyde finally snapped. “Maybe they want to control the supply of Thirium to make a profit!”

Connor looked down at him in shock, “what did you say?”

“They can keep the money as some twisted way of beating the system that held them down! It doesn’t fucking matter, they’re killing her!”

“But they’re killing their own kind to make a dollar?”

“Why does it matter?!” Clyde demanded.

“Where would they hide it?” Connor said, getting really close to Clyde despite the warnings telling him the androids was on the brink of an emotional snap.

Clyde pulled at his hair, “ I don’t know? They will probably fly it out of the city in some private plane.”

“They need a place to store that much Thirium. They would need to make several trips."

"Or they could have more then one set of planes?" Clyde argued.

"Its to last minute for that level of planning," Connor countered. "They'd need a small fleet. Red Ice is a hot commodity, but not that hot."

"Hey pricks, we're planning in the next room. Could use your super computer minds," Reed said, sticking his head into the room they'd found to be alone in. Or Clyde had and Connor followed without permission. They stood and followed the Detective over a few rooms.

“Lets say they have more basic aircraft, a normal commercial liner that can carry a couple thousand pounds,” Reed was at the white board trying to do some basic math the androids behind him were several steps ahead on. “How far could they travel?”

“Depends on the amount of fuel the aircraft can carry,” someone is the back piped up.

“Lets say they gutted it. Just Thirium and fuel.”

“Thirteen hours,” the same person said quickly. “In any direction.”

“They aren’t asking for international permissions,” Clyde spoke up. “So they will most likely keep it here in the states.”

“Good point,” Reed wrote some more numbers down.

“What could hold that much liquid in one place?” Reed asked himself aloud, stepping back.

They all were all thinking quietly when the androids picked up the first set of good news. “THATS IT!”

Clyde slumped as all the androids started cheering.

“What the fuck?!” Reed demanded, confused about the sudden shift in mood.

“They got all the Thirium we needed,” Connor said, patting the newer model on the back. “We’re getting her back.”

Hank burst through the door, out of breath. “Come on! We gotta be there for the exchange!”


	13. //dec-abc/DPD/guest/relocation.exe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Returning to normal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just carry most of what I said over to this chapter warning wise, Gore and mention of medical treatment.
> 
> I must have written six or seven different endings but this... This was the one that spoke to me.
> 
> Enjoy!

Clyde wanted to pace like Reed was doing behind him. They had received one last body part, hour 9 ticking over on their short flight over, her right ear. Clyde was marking off all the things she was missing and ground his teeth together. She would never be able to work as a detective again. She would be a glorified secretary if she refused to leave the force. She’d be stuck on desk duty for the rest of her life.

To think she was only meant to come on as a consultant for her experience with androids and excellent grades and track record. Markus could have chosen the man behind him to be his partner, just as qualified if not for his persistent hate of androids. Maybe now he would be stuck with Reed? Ashton would never… She would never walk at his side again. Bio-enhancements for humans had made advances in the last few years, but not enough to replace everything… everything they cut from her…

They were waiting on the west landing strip, lines of cops and a few helicopters waiting on standby. One dot in the distance slowly approaching in preparation for landing. Clyde looked over his shoulders to the ten massive holding tanks the blue blood had been collected into to assure evaporation was impossible. This would work. It had to.

The plane landed on the east side, slowly rolling to a stop a few hundred meters from them. It was an older 737-800 commercial airliner. The plane had been striped of any of its markings, left as a white cylinder. He could see the pilots shutting the engines into standby, the hatch opening.

Three androids jumped out, landing calmly down on the tarmac. Two were heavily armed and devoid of their synthetic skin, chests strapped with bullet proof vests and AK style guns crossing over their chests in warning. The one in the middle dressed in a tacky fully white suite, washing his pale skin and white hair out. He approached slowly, arms behind his back, smile getting wider the closer they came.

“Good to see that the brothers are getting along,” the android said, tilting his head to the side like this was a family reunion.

“We have what you asked for,” Connor said, pointing over his shoulder. “Where is she?”

The android smiled big. “Guess no one thought we would bring her?” He looked over his shoulder, raising his hand lazily. Two female androids dropped down, carrying a women between them. She was unconscious, but whole. Clyde glanced over at Connor, wondering what was happening. The last part he’d seen of hers was the left arm, but it was still attached, slung over a shoulder. The closer they got, he realized that she was attached to a mainline IV, filled will a sickly red hue. They stopped in the middle, Clyde walking hesitantly out to grab her. They quickly laid Ashton down, removing the IV carefully before bandaging her up and backing up out of his reach.

Clyde looked down at the prone woman laying on corroded asphalt. She looked healthy, even the ear he’d heard was delivered was intact. The only missing piece was a small uneven lock of hair.

His systems had been running at a hundred percent for too long, his RAM overwhelmed by what he was looking at. “What body…?”

“Some poor soul we picked up off the street,” the white android said with a mindless shrug. “Their skin matched near perfect. If my calculations were correct, your CSI department didn’t have the time to analyze the DNA? Busy trying to collect the requested Thirium in time?”

Hank and Reed both pulled their standard issues pistoles, aiming it at the three androids. “Freeze, your under arrest for—!”

The white android rolled his eyes, holding up a dead-mans switch. It was like all the air had been knocked out of Clyde. He raised her shirt, expected to see C4 strapped to her body but there was a new surgical scar under her ribcage, a small sickening raise to her skin.

“Didn’t think I was that stupid?” It asked evil smile growing back into place. “We’ll take the pallets now, thank you.”

“How dare you!” Clyde shouted up at him.

“She’s as safe as was promised. Far safer if I recall,” the white haired android said, smile falling. “Do you not trust me? OR would you rather I take her back and remove everything on her?”

“Killing your own kind,” Connor said, disgusted.

The android shrugged his shoulders. “Humans have been killing each other for thousands of years. From religion to water. In this case, its the black market. We have a level playing field and I would like the home team to win.”

“You sick fuck,” Reed spit.

“Humans are weak for their addictions,” he continued. “There are many different kinds and if taking the humans down by fiscal or physiological means,” he shrugged again. “It doesn’t matter to me.”

“Now, if everyone leaves, we will be on our way. With no one following or tracking our movements.” He held his hand up a little higher. “Or, _boom_!”

“Lets get everyone out,” The FBI agent said, starting to signal everyone to move.

“How do we know the signal won’t go out?” Clyde demanded.

“The switch is made to die slowly as we fly a certain distance away,” the android promised him. “If it cuts suddenly it will detonate. So don’t try anything funny,” he said, waving to those waiting on him. More jumped down, waiting patiently in neat rows. “Ok. I do believe the transaction was successful. Bye bye,” he waved.

Clyde made one split second decision, cleared by his pre-construction software. Sixty eight percent chance of success. He’d take it.

The three androids had turned their back to him, a rookie mistake. He jumped the white android first, with one clean jerk using his whole body, the androids arm came clean off. He slapped the guard on the right with the detached arm, knocking the gun from his hand. Clyde slammed the heel of his shoe into his thirium pump, slipping it out of place. He clawed at his middle, timer set to ten seconds before deactivation.

The other guard aimed his gun wrong, not a proper officer. He was off by three degrees, Clyde was able to avoid the spray of bullets easily. He ripped the gun from his hands, turning it around and shooting him once between the eye. He turned the gun onto the white android. In some small part of his taxed processor, he realized how much the android looked like the classic human image of a vampire. He must have changed his appearance when he caught wind of the media frenzy. What a sick deviant.

“On your knees, hand in the air!” He shouted. He was holding the other hand with his life, assuring that the thumb was not removed from the button.

“Very clever,” the android praised. “I hadn’t accounted on you having fallen in love with the human.”

Clyde ignored the shouting behind him, placing the high caliber AK to the deviants forehead and pulled the trigger once.

“Holy shit!” Reed was a second to late, looking down at the dead android.

“He couldn’t be trusted alive,” Clyde said, turning back to Ashton. Connor had picked her up like a bride. “We need to get her to surgery immediately!”

All hell had broken lose around him. The plane started to come to life, pilots working to get away from the quickly approaching FBI agents. The androids that had jumped down were jumping back onto the plane, some fighting one another to be first.

“St. Johns will be ready for her when we arrive!” The FBI agent shouted, running towards the helicopters safely placed just out of reach of the aircrafts wing span as it started rolling forward, ignoring the chaos around her.

Clyde watched his fellow android run in front of him, grimly determined to keep the human alive.

 

 

 

 

 

Ashton was really tired of waking up in a foggy state. She moved her head side to side, realizing distantly there was a tube down her throat, breathing for her.

“Here honey,” a nurse said, reaching around. “Theres a pan here if you throw up,” she assured, a clicking as the machine was disengaged, extracting the internal tube with perfect form. Ashton gagged a little, throat raw as she took a few breaths herself. “I have some ice to sooth your throat,” the nurse said, holding up a spoon. Ashton closed her eyes, opening her mouth in welcome.

“Where am I?” she asked, voice rough.

“Your at St. Johns, Miss Becard. Surgery was performed on you to remove a bomb placed by a deviant android.”

“Yeah… I remember him.” The thing had got completely mental when its human died of Red Ice overdose. The monologue had felt cliche as the surgical android was putting her under, but there was the motive they’d been looking for.

“Is anyone here to see me?”

“Yes. You have quite the crowd waiting for you,” she said with a bright smile. “Lets sit here for a few more minutes and then you can say hi.”

Ashton had a few more ice chips, her voice stronger while her and the nurse made small talk.

“Ok. Vitals look good,” the nurse said, looking at the several machines she was still attached to. “Ready?” She asked, standing up, releasing the locks on the beds wheels.

Ashton nodded. There was really only three people she wanted to see.

She could hear them before she saw them. There was a line of people down the hall, leading into her hospital room. They started to cheer when they saw her, awake and responsive. She smiled, feeling herself blush. People in other rooms stuck their heads out and a few brave ones asked what as going on.

She was pushed into the room, seeing them. Her fathers and Clyde. Clyde stood, hope, fear, longing, all wrapped into beautiful blue eyes she thought at one point she’d never get to see again.

Once the bed was in place and the nurse attached the machines of the roaming bed to the rooms, she patted her arm. “Ok!” The nurse shouted over the noise. “Ten minutes, or whenever the doctor arrives! Thats it!”

Clyde rushed to her side, picking up her hand. He kissed the back of it, rubbing her skin against his cheek in worry.

Tom had her other hand, far more careful with the main line IV stuck down by the medical grade tape. “Oh, honey,” he cried, falling to his knees.

“Daddy, I’m fine. Everything is ok.” she looked over at Clyde. “You got the sick fuck, right?”

Clyde’s turbulent blue ocean turned to ice, piercing her soul with his eyes. “I killed him.”

“There was so much more we could have gotten from him!” Ashton admonished.

“He put a dead-mans bomb in your chest. He couldn’t be trusted,” Clyde argued, holding her hand a little tighter.

That brought Ashton up short. “The nurse mentioned it was a bomb but—“

“Before we get kicked out,” Connor said, standing at the food of her bed. “Were you able to learn anything about him?”

“He was acting alone, minus the others he’d gathers to his cause. With other androids that were hurt by being left behind during the evacuation or abandoned by the humans that couldn’t trust them. He… he said he’d hoped to keep running under the guise of the humans but… demand was rising quickly.” Her eyes lit up. “The homeless androids, before New Jericho could be established, that’s who he went for first.”

“Those that no one could track,” Connor said with a grim nod of his head.

“He said he went through them first before… he.. he helped… he,” Ashton took a deep breath. “He showed the humans how to properly de-blood the androids… But promised death if anyone talked.”

“The android from the hotel,” Clyde confirmed. “We saw one of his victims,” he filled her in.

She let her head lull, trying to remember anything else. “He wanted revenge against his human for leaving him behind. His grief twisted him. He couldn’t understand why she chose the drug over him, no matter what he told her,” she tightened her hold on Clyde. “He could be considered a victim of circumstances.”

“No. He knew exactly what he was doing,” Connor said. “He was no victim.”

Clyde nodded, agreeing with his predecessor completely.

“Ok, sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” a woman in a doctors coat walked into the room. “She needs time to heal for the night.”

“I’m not leaving,” Clyde said, holding her hand tight enough to cut blood flow.

“Sir—“ The doctor started

“No, please. Can he stay?” Ashton practically begged.

The doctor looked between them. “Only if you promise to let her sleep.”

“Of course,” the android was almost offended. His human needed all the sleep she could get.

“Say your goodbyes,” the doctor instructed, standing off to the side.

Ashton waved everyone out with a tired smile.

“Hello Miss Becard. I will be your primary doctor while you’re staying with us, Doctor Lee. If you don’t mind his sitting here, I have a few things to talk to you about the surgery and your recovery path.”

“No, he can stay,” Ashton assured. They both listened as the doctor recounted the surgery and then explained everything to Clyde for her recovery and potential physical therapy.

“Thank you for your time. We have you on some strong pain meds, but we can’t give you the morphine till the Red Ice has been drained from you completely.”

“Red Ice?” Ashton asked in a panic.

“Oh, yeah,” Clyde whispered under his breath. She wiped her eyes on him.

“Explain?”

“When they brought you down from the plane, they had you connected to an IV bag full of liquidized Red Ice.”

“It was unrefined, so the damaging neurological effects were negated,” the doctor assured her. “We are giving your liver time to detox naturally since you weren’t in danger of OD’ing. Now, you need to sleep. If your not asleep in an hour we have a few things that will do just the trick,” she threatened, heading back out.

Another nurse came in right after, taking down her vitals before leaving again.

Clyde sat quietly, running his thumb over her knuckles like it was natural. He wasn’t looking at her, foot tapping impatiently against the linoleum.

“If you keep that up, I won’t be able to sleep,” she warned, watching him closely. He stopped all movement, finally turning to look at her.

“Sorry.”

She shook her head, shifting to get onto her side. “Gonna watch me sleep all night like a creep?” she said with a smile, still holding his hand.

Clyde blushed, “I can go stand outside if—“

She giggled, pulling his hand closer. “No. Stay here. I really need a friend right now.”

He nodded, getting comfortable again in the uncomfortable chair. Had all chairs always been this uncomfortable?

“There something on your mind?” She asked, eyes starting to drift shut, body demanding the time to heal.

“Just running over the case again. He died, its a shut case but that doesn’t feel right. He deserved so much worse.”

“We can talk in the morning about it,” she said, giving in to her exhaustion.

 

 

 

The next morning turned into a month later. Ashton had been whisked out on a standard press tour the moment she was given the clean bill of health. Meeting with Markus, President Warren and several high political types, showered with awards and doing interview after interview with the press.

The vampire android’s photo was leaked to the press a few days after the whole ordeal. The press had given themselves one massive pat on the back for their description of the case, even if he did change his look to be ironic. The lack of tact from the press always rubbed him wrong. Slowly the ‘blue blood vampire’ was replaced with more pressing android rights and the growing number of hate groups.

The plane had managed to escape, no properly placed bullet had managed to bring down an engine. No one had managed to find the plane yet and the conspiracy theorist were having a field day on the forums speculating where it could have gone. All but three tubs of the Thirium had been destroyed when the aircraft had rolled over the top. The left over Thirium had been enough to reactivate the volunteered androids in New Jericho. Markus had given a rousing speech, telling of bravery and dedication to equality. The press ate that shit up too.

Clyde had been forced to return to Reeds side while Ashton was away, doing mounds of paperwork and accepting the praise rained down on him. He’d received a few awards of himself, including a badge, gun and a permeant paid detective position at the DPD if he chose to stay. He’d been hesitant to give Fowler a straight answer.

“Talk to her and then give me your answer!” he’d said in his gruff way, waving Clyde out of his office.

He’d returned to Ashtons apartment every night, unable to stay away from the soft mattress and silky sheets. Her distinct smell lingered for the first few weeks but soon it was replaced with his. He woke every morning hugging her pillow, wishing it was her.

Reed and Clyde were hunched over, reading the newest case of android trafficking when there was a shout from the front of the precinct. Clyde ignored it at first, it sounded like an unruly suspect being dragged in. The roar rose though, catching his audio processors off guard. He glanced up, pump skipping a beat.

Ashton was walking through the bullpen, smile big and outfit freshly pressed. She beelined for Reed and Clyde, holding her hand out.

“I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting,” Ashton said to Reed.

“Gavin. Gavin Reed,” he said, taking her hand.

“Don’t bother with that one, kid,” Hank said from his desk, smiling. “He’s a class A asshole.”

“Oh, fuck off!” Reed sneered.

“Hows it going?” She asked Clyde, glancing down to the folder he was still holding.

He straightened his back, clearing his throat unnecessarily. “Android trafficking,” he said simply, putting the easily torn paper on the desk, not trusting himself.

“Mind if I talk with you?” She asked, pointing over her shoulder to the archive room.

“Of course,” Clyde stood, walking around to follow his partner.

Ashton turned suddenly, “I’m going back to Texas tonight.”

Clyde physically recoiled. “What? Why?”

She was upset. “I was always on loan from the APD. I was never suppose to move here, remember?”

Clyde had let himself think Ashton would stay here with him… she had her own place and…

“The current apartment, I asked Uncle Jeff and he said it could be on loan to you and Connor and any future androids as temporary housing since its on the DPD’s wallet anyway. All my stuff has been packed up already…”she lingered, body facing the stairs.

“I asked Kamski about his emotion protocols and he has agreed to have you back over to download everything again, if you wanted. I told him not to make it weird so… Take that for what you will,” she chuckled, fiddling with her shorter hair. The style looked good on her.

“Why not stay?” He whispered.

Ashton looked up at him slowly. “I thought about it, but my life is down in Texas. Its too cold up here for me.”

“What if I went with you?” Clyde asked, reaching out to her, need to feel the connection slipping between his fingers established again.

Ashton took a step back, shaking her head. “Texas laws are not as progressive as Michigans. It wouldn’t be safe for you there.”

“So this is it?” Clyde demanded.

Ashton held out her hand, “its been a pleasure to work with you, RK 900,” she said with a watery smile. “I hope we can work together again in the future.”

Clyde reached out and took her hand, pulling her into a hug. “We’ll work together again.” It was a promise.

They walked slowly from the archives and back out onto the streets. The car she’d been using waiting patiently for her, fathers still with her to assure her health was taken care of.

“Ashton,” he reached out for her hand. “Did… was any of it real?”

Ashton gave him a sweet smile, turning around completely. “Yes, some of it. I don’t mean to offend, it was a great one night fling but I don’t see myself with an android partner in the end. It was great to make a new friend while I was here.”

Clyde nodded, “friend.” He refused to meet her eyes. She leaned in, catching his attention once more. “I would say, go for Reed.”

“Reed?!” He demanded, shocked by the thought.

“Scan him the next time you get a little too close,” she said with a wink. “You’d be surprised.”

Confused with the potential, he missed her hand slipping from his.

“Goodbye, Clyde!” She bid from the back seat, waving out the window as the car pulled away. Clyde waved back, watching till even his sensitive optical units couldn’t see the car anymore.

Clyde returned to his desk, Reed’s arms crossed over his chest.

“Saying goodbye, prick?” Reed demanded.

A simple scan showed a marked increase in heart rate and dilated pupils. Clyde his a smirk, purposefully brushing against the human. Reed flinched, but didn’t go off.

“Sorry,” Clyde apologized. “My calibration seems to be off.”

“Calibration,” Reed muttered, blood collecting at the surface of his cheeks.

Yeah, this could be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! This was a bare bones outline and maybe one day i'll come back to it and add another 30,000 words to really flush it out and make it what it could be? 
> 
> I don't plan to make a sequel to this, so the teasing at the end is my being very cruel, but fuck do I love the RK 900 and Reed ship, fuck me up fam. It influenced how I ended this, not gonna lie. 
> 
> Ok, just prolonging this goodbye... Thank you to everyone who commented, you were my inspiration that pushed me to write this out so quickly!!!! Every kudos was a reminder that I needed to sit down and write. Love forever, Write eternal, Angle. <3


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